i899-] 17 



NOTES ON BIRD BONES FROM IRISH CAVES. 



BY G. E. H. BARRETT- HAMILTON, B.A., F.Z.S. 



Through the kindness of my friend Dr. R. F. Scharff, I have 

 been permitted to examine some bird bones from the Bally- 

 namintra and Shandon caves, in the Dublin Museum. These 

 bones had been identified as those of the Ptarmigan and 

 Black Grouse, neither of which species is known to have 

 occurred in Ireland in recent times. The following is the 

 account given of the bones in Mr. Lydekker's Catalogue. 



(I.) " Tetrao ietrix, Iyinn , Syst Nat. ed. 12, vol. i., p. 274 (1766). (<?.) The 

 right humerus, wanting the distal extremity ; from the Ballynamintra 

 Cave, Co. Waterford. This specimen agrees in all respects with the cor- 

 responding bone of a recent skeleton of the Black Grouse, and is very 

 important, as proving the former existence of that species in Ireland, of 

 which there has hitherto been no evidence ; -see Yarrell's British Birds, 

 4th ed., vol. iii., pp. 62, 63 (1884). Presented by R. /. Ussher, Esq." 



(II.) Lagopus mutus (Montin). " (a.) The right humerus and three speci- 

 mens of the coracoid; from Shandon Cave, Co. Waterford. These 

 specimens are noticed in the Trans. R. I. Acad., 1 vol. xxvi., p. 229, 

 where it is suggested that they may belong to females of L. scoticus. 

 Their small size shows, however, that they indicate the former ex- 

 istence of the Ptarmigan in Ireland. Presented by E. Brenan, Esq. 



(III.) (V.) " The imperfect mandible and a femur ; from the Ballyna- 

 mintra Cave, Co, Waterford. Presented by R. /. Ussher, Esq." 



I have, fortunately, been able not only myself to give these 

 bones a very careful examination and comparison with recent 

 skeletons, but also to avail myself of the advice of my friends, 

 Messrs. E. T. Newton and W. P. Pycraft, with a result that 

 there can be no reasonable doubt whatever that all the above 

 bones, with one exception, have been correctly identified. 

 The exception is the imperfect mandible from Ballyna- 

 mintra Cave ; and that gave a considerable amount of trouble 

 before it could be properly named. It would probably 

 astonish those who have not worked for themselves at bird- 

 bones, and who may not, therefore, appreciate the difficulty 

 in naming such specimens, if I were to give here a list of the 

 species with which this refractory bone at first sight appeared 

 to bear resemblance. To Mr. Pycraft, however, belongs the 

 credit of having finally identified it as the mandible, not of 

 any species of game bird, but of a Common Kestrel (Falco 

 tinnunculus, Linn.)— a species which has, I believe, not 

 hitherto been included in our Irish cave-fauna* 



