— 296 — 

 OBITUARY. 



REV. GEORGE ROBINSON, M.A. 



The Rev. George Robinson, M.A., died at his residence. Beech Hill, 

 Armagh, on September 5th, at the age of 72. After obtaining his degree 

 and Divinity Testimonium in Trinity College, Dublin, he took holy 

 orders as curate of Tullyniskin, and was shortly afterwards appointed 

 rector of the important parish of Tartaraghan, in the Co. Armagh. He 

 held this post for thirty-three years, but a severe illness compelled him, 

 in 1882, to resign his office. Mr. Robinson was from early years devoted 

 to natural history, and especially to ornithology and botany. In both 

 these departments he added considerably to the Armagh lists. He con- 

 tributed important notes to Thompson's "Birds of Ireland," "Cybele 

 Hibernica," and Stewart and Corry's " Flora of the N.E. of Ireland." 

 Among the birds he noted the occurrence of the Brambling {Fringilla 

 montifringilla, L.) and the Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla rati, Bonaparte), in 

 Co. Armagh ; and among plants he found many species of rare occur- 

 rence, notably Mercurialis perennis, Stachys befonica, Lathyrtis palustris, Carex 

 pseudo-cy perns, Calamagrostis stricta, etc. 



Mr. Robinson was a member of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, and regularly attended its meetings ; also of 

 the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, at the excursions and meetings of 

 which he was a frequent attendant. Of the Armagh Natural History and 

 Philosophical Society he was an original member, having belonged to 

 the old Society which preceded the present one. He took a prominent 

 part in establishing the Society on its present basis, taking the greatest 

 interest in its success. 



On the late Bishop of Down (Dr. Reeves) resigning the office of Presi- 

 dent in 1879, Mr. Robinson was unanimously elected to fill the vacancy, 

 and held the post till 1891, when owing to failing health he was obliged to 

 resign. He strove during his presidency to promote the objects of the 

 Society by offering prizes and by obtaining lecturers. 



It is much to be regretted that Mr. Robinson never published any 

 papers on the natural history of Co. Armagh, on which he was a perfect 

 mine of information. There was not a point of interest about the county 

 with which he was not acquainted, and being an excellent observer, and 

 having a retentive memory, he accumulated a large amount of original 

 information. He was always ready to give a helping hand to the young 

 naturalist, and was always delighted to hear of a new discovery in the 

 county. He had a considerable collection of both plants and birds, but 

 the latter, though excellently set up, are unfortunately not localized. 

 I take this opportunity of acknowledging the kind assistance and en- 

 couragement I received from Mr. Robinson in making various collections 

 of plants as well as insects. Though he did not profess to be an entomo- 

 logist he had much infomation on the subject. 



W. F. JOHNSON. 



