Zoology. 153 



Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is rare here : one 

 captured near Carrickfergus, in January igoi, is the only 

 record for Belfast Lough. The Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Tur- 

 siops tursio) has occurred once, in December 1895, cast 

 ashore near Rockport, on the County Down side of Belfast 

 Lough (R. Lloyd Patterson in Irish JVaf., vol. ix, p. 211). 



R. P. 

 - AVES. 



GeneraL — Out of 288 species admitted to the Irish 

 list, the counties of Down and Antrim can claim 231. Of 

 these, 119 have bred in the two counties in the last century, 

 but only iii are known to breed now. The 231 species 

 may be roughly divided as follows : Residents, 88 ; summer 

 visitors, 26 ; autumn and winter visitors, 37 ; and occasional 

 and irregular visitors, 80. 



Of late years much attention has been given to local 

 ornithology, as is shown by the fact that, when the last 

 "Guide to Belfast," etc., was published in 1874, only 185 

 species could be claimed for the two counties. At that 

 time the Irish list comprised 265 species, but 3 of these 

 have since been struck off. Thus, while 26 birds have been 

 added to the Irish list since 1874, no less than 46 have 

 been added to the local list in the same time. 



Much detailed information may be obtained from T/ie 

 Birds of Lriaiid, by Messrs. Ussher & Warren. This valu- 

 able and excellent book, published in 1900, admirably does 

 for the last half of the century just closed what Thompson's 

 great work did for the first half. The Birds, Fishes, and 

 Cetacea of Belfast Lough, by R. Lloyd Patterson, F.L.S., 

 published in 1881, contains much local information, and 

 may be consulted with advantage. 



(The asterisk (*) indicates that the species breeds in the 

 district.) 



Passeres. — The*Mistle-Thrush, *Song-Thrush, *Black- 

 bird, *Stonechat, and *Robin are all common residents. 

 In summer the *Wheatear and *Ring-Ouzel are somewhat 

 local; and the *\Vhinchat is decidedly scarce. Large flocks 

 of Redwings and Fieldfares are found in winter. There are 

 no records of the Redstart since Thompson's time, but 



