1887] Correspondence during Illness. 333 



DEAR BARRINGTON. I know not the specimen. Better send it to 

 Baker. Now is the time to ask Mr. Scully* to draw up a list of any and 

 -all new localities he has found for rare plants in Ireland for " Cybele." 

 Written on one side of foolscap. Will you try and persuade him to do this 

 in the slack season ? . . . Has Pimf got the interleaved " Cybele " yet ? 

 and have you time to take it next yourself ? Please write in your auto- 

 graph next to Hart's, and I must get those of all contributors. I told 



you is not to have the vol. back. But it is agreed to be sent to the 



R. I. Acad. 



I had a very bad turn on Monday. ... I spent an awful night. . . . 

 I am quite well, quite recovered from it, to-day, but have a good deal of 

 pain. I hope Vowell is better. I have not seen him for a long time. 

 Hope you will look in soon. Have written to to say his plan of circu- 

 lar invitation to bird-stuffers will not answer. They must first be taught 

 to know their birds ; next, when they do know, they prefer to keep their 

 own rarities. Either no results, or an inundation of rubbish, would be 

 the consequence. . . . You know what a lot of " stuff" collected. 



Do make a little inquiry, when next you write to the Tearaght 

 man, about Leach's Petrel. Did he take egg himself? And notice its 

 size at time ? And does he know where ? It is not of course very im- 

 probable.:!: But there should be a colony. ... I am glad to see Harting 

 doubting the Ruddy Shelldrakes being wild birds- Yours, 



A. G. M. 



In December, in several letters to Sir T. F. Brady, and 

 others, he resumed his attempt to agitate for the introduc- 

 tion of the grayling. Letters of this date among his papers 

 also show his solicitude for the collection of birds in the 

 Museum. In recruiting for this department he had always 

 had a strong ally in Mr. Williams, of Dame-street, who 

 enjoyed exceptional opportunities for directing him to the 

 whereabouts of recent rarities, and who this winter sent 

 him several valuable hints, none of which were neglected. 

 " We have received a very fine specimen of the Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker, . . . it might be well to try a coaxing 

 letter asking the bird for the Museum," runs one commu- 

 nication (December 4th, 1886) ; and one from the bird's 

 owner soon follows (December loth) : " Dear Sir, I shall 

 be most happy to give the Pied Woodpecker to the Mu- 

 seum, and also any other rare birds I may become possessed 

 of." About the same time, and through the same good 

 offices, he was able to examine an Irish specimen of the 



* Mr. R. W. Scully, F.L.S. t Mr. Greenwood Pirn, F.L.S. 



J The reference is to the first discovery of the Fork-tailed Petrel nesting in 

 Ireland. See "Zoologist," 1886, pp. 367-8. 



