15^ The Irish Naturalist. 



MOLLUSCS. 



Pearl Fishing In the Strule.— In the past week quite a number 

 of valuable pearls were found in the Strule, between Omagh and New- 

 townstewart. E. Mullan got one weighing ten grains, and for which he 

 refused £\o. Thomas Short got six, all good colours and shapes; 

 William Muldoon, nine pearls ; J. Donnelly, fourteen, four of which 

 were perfection, and very valuable. The Strule, without exception, is 

 the best river in Ulster for pearls. — Belfast News-Letter, 6th June, 1894. 



BIRDS. 



Long-tailed Ducks in Wexford.— I received about March 24th, 

 an adult pair of Long-tailed Ducks, together with a female Scoter, from 

 a fowler of Wexford Harbour. According to Mr. A. G. Moore (List of 

 Irish Birds, Ed. II., p. 36), the Long-tailed Duck is a " rare winter visitor, 

 in small numbers, chiefly occurring in the North of Ireland." 



I have no previous record of its occurrence in the Co. Wexford, 

 except that given in Thompson's " Natural History of Ireland," (vol. 

 iii., p. 141.) — G. E. H. Barrett- Ham 1 i/f on, Trin. Coll., Cambridge. 



The Dusky Shearwater (Puff inus obscurus, Cm.). — Through 

 Mr. Ussher's efforts, the unique Irish specimen of this bird has been 

 secured for the Dublin Museum. Mr. Ussher was good enough to inform 

 me that it flew on board the "Olive" on the nth May, 1853, near the 

 Bull Rock on the coast of Kerr)'. It was immediately identified on the 

 island of Valentia by Mr. Bewicke Blackbourn, in whose possession the 

 bird remained until Mr. Ussher induced the owner to present it to the 

 Museum. This identical specimen is figured in Yarrell's British Birds. — 



R. F. SCHARFF. 



MAMMALS. 



The Marten in Co. Donegal.— With reference to Marten in Co. 

 Donegal, I should tell }-ou that I had the remains of one, killed and 

 stuffed by my uncle, the late T. B. Hart, at Gleualla, thirty or forty 

 years ago. So that so far as these woods are concerned, the testimony 

 is more than eyesight and hearsay. The specimen was badly stuffed and 

 subsequently worried by a terrier. — H. C. Hart, Carrablagh, Co. Donegal. 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



Royal Zoological Society. 



Recent donations include two Guinea- Pigs from J. H. Higgins, Esq. ; 

 Rabbits from H. G. M 'Night, Esq., and f . Williams, Esq. ; "three Cor- 

 morants from Major Murphy ; a pair of Cereopsis Geese from General 

 Sir R. Sankey ; and a pair of Ravens from S. B. Wilkinson, Esq. 



An Orang-outang has been deposited in the gardens by Mr. W. Cross, 

 of Liverpool, so that visitors have now the rare privilege of seeing two 

 of the Anthropid Apes alive in one collection. 



About 1 1,000 persons visited the Gardens in May. 



