54 



taiiicd, as the gentleman is since deceased, but I have thought it 

 proper to lay the statement as I received it before this Societ)% with 

 the additional remark that the horn is quite perfect and appears re- 

 cent ; but again, might not this be attributed to the M-ell-knovrn 

 preservative property of the soil in which it is said to have been 

 found ? The number of snags upon the horn, and its dimensions show 

 that it belonged to a very old animal : its breadth, measured in a 

 straight line across the centre, without the cun'e being rcckoned, is 

 35 inches ; its height, similarly estimated in a straight line from the 

 base, 261 inches. 



As the eik inhabited a ^vide range of latitude on the continent of 

 Europe itdoes not appear singular to me that it should have been a 

 native of Ireland, especially \vhen the Cervus Hibernus, a species of 

 greater magnitude, Avas indigencus to the country. In the Annalcs 

 (les Sciences Naturelles for 1835, t. iv. (new series), portions of the 

 horn of the Cervus Alces are figured and described by M. Christol, 

 from specimens found in a fossil statė at Pėzėnas. 



BiRDs, new to Ireland. 



Strix Scops, Temm. Scops-eared 0\vl. I have been infonned 

 by Robert Bali, Esq., of Dubliu, that an o\vl of this species \vas shot 

 iu the month of July a fe\v years ago by the gamekeeper at Lough- 

 crew, county of Meath, the seat of J. W. L. Napicr, Esq., inwhose 

 possession it now is. The specimen -Nvas kindly sent to Dubliu for 

 the examination of Mr. Bali, who statės in a letter to me that it 

 proved identical with a Strix Scops that I have seen in his coUection. 



Colymhiis arcticus, Linn. Black-throated Diver. In the coUec- 

 tion of Dr. J. D. Marshall, of Belfast, there is a specimen of this 

 bird, which ^vas shot during \vinter in Lame Lough, county of An- 

 trim. It is in the plumage of the first j'ear. 



* Procellarla Pvffinus, Linn. Cinereous Shearwater. Of this species 

 one individual only has yet been recorded with certainty as British. 

 I have no\v to notice a second specimen, respecting ^vhich Mr. Ro- 

 bert Davis, Jun., of Clonmel, has favoured me ^vith the following 

 particulars. " It \vas taken in August 1835, by a boy who saw it 

 scrambling to-n-ards a hole at the base of a cliff near Dungarvan, 

 coimty of Waterford. They are called hagdotons by the iishermen, 

 •\vho say that they breed there and live in holes in the rocks, but are 

 at all times very scai'ce. The specimen was sent to me alivc, and 

 apparently in good health, but it would not eat any thing, and died 

 after having been in my possession for about ten days or a fortnight. 

 It had an cxtremely rank, fishy, or oily smell at all times, but I never 

 saw' any appearance of oil being discharged from its mouth or nos- 

 trils. It seemed unable to walk, but scrambled alongwith its breast 

 about an inch from the ground. Although its \vings were perfect 

 and uninjured, it madc no attempt to fly, butif letfall from a height 

 dropped heavily to the ground. It sho\ved an inclination to climb, 

 having several times mounted up the handle x>i a long spade that 



