222 The Irish Natuialist. December, 
was developed chiefly owing to the circumstances of his 
Hfe, for in 1877, his wife became a confirmed invahd, and 
under this great family sorrow, relief was found in his old 
love for ornithology. His summers were spent at Ardmore 
on the coast of Waterford, where the cliffs and sea-birds 
were a constant source of attraction, and Ussher became 
an expert climber and great egg-collector. It was here 
he gave the Keartons their first lessons in cliff-climbing. 
Almost every part of Ireland was visited in ceaseless 
search for the breeding-haunts of rare birds, and the assist- 
ance of correspondents was enlisted in nearly every county 
so that his egg-collection became almost unique, it ; was 
acquired some years ago by the National Museum in Dublin. 
After its removal from Cappagh, he gave up egg-collecting, 
but his energy as an ornithologist was even greater than 
before. Annual summer journeys, not only to the cliffs 
and islands of the west coast, but also to the lakes and 
marshes of the Midlands were undertaken, often as a delegate 
from the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds, with 
the object of supervising the watchers. So late as last 
June, he was instrumental in detecting, while with the 
writer, the duplicity of one of these men, who indirectly 
w^as actually selling the eggs of the bird he was supposed 
to protect. 
Many naturalists visited Ussher in his home at Cappagh ; 
Prof. Leith Adams, Seebohm, Howard Saunders, the 
brothers Lindner from Germany, and several others. The 
Great Saltee Island, off the coast of Wexford, famous for 
the number and accessibility of its sea-birds was a favourite 
rendezvous, and an expedition there was organised last 
June. German, English and American visitors were 
invited and enjoyed a delightful time, sleeping in the old 
deserted farmhouse, towards the repairing of which Ussher 
contributed liberally. 
Students of ornithology in Ireland have been singularly 
few, compared with those of Great Britain, and no book 
worthy of the name dealing with its birds in detail was 
published in the last century, except the three volumes of 
William Thompson, 1849-51. From that time down to 1900, 
with the exception of A. G. More's valuable " List of Irish 
