102 The Irish Naturalist. October, 



A large part of the Blake Knox collection has come 

 into my possession recently, in consequence of which I have 

 been requested to publish the more important records. 

 To these I have added records of some of the birds from the 

 collection which are not in my possession. I do not, how- 

 ever, wish this paper to be considered as exhaustive and 

 complete, as I have not been able to obtain particulars of 

 some interesting specimens which have passed into one well- 

 known private collection of Irish birds. 



It gives me great pleasure to take this opportunity of 

 thanking Mr. C. B. Moffat for his help and advice in the 

 preparation of this paper ; were it not for his encouragement 

 it would never have been written. My thanks are also due 

 to the authorities of the National Museum, to Mr. W. 

 Williams and Mr. J. B. Nichols for their kindness in allowing 

 me to publish data of some of the specimens now in their 

 possession. I would also like to thank the Misses Blake 

 Knox for their help. 



All the specimens recorded, unless otherwise stated, are 

 now in my private collection. Whenever possible the 

 actual data written on the original stands or labels in Knox's 

 own handwriting are given. 



Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excuhitor Linnaeus. 



1. Mounted specimen. The stand bears the words 

 " Ballycoris, Co. Dublin. Old stand lost." This bird is now 

 in my collection. 



2. Mounted specimen. The stand bears the words 

 " Ballybrack [Co. Dublin], August, 1876. Shot by Goodwin 

 Hughes." This specimen has, unfortunately, been stolen 

 from me. This rare visitor to Ireland usualh^ occurs in the 

 winter, and according to Ussher in the " Birds of Ireland " 

 has been obtained only" once and once seen in August, all 

 other records being from October to March. The second 

 specimen recorded here is noteworthy therefore as a third 

 August record. It has not been previously recorded so far 

 as I know ; owing to absence of data I do not know whether 

 the first specimen has been or no. All or many of the 

 previous specimens obtained in Ireland had only one wing 

 bar, thus belonging to the form L. major of Pallas. This 



