578 Alexander Goodman More Scientific Papers. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Since the publication of the second edition of this List, in December, 

 1889, thirteen species of Birds have been, for the first time, recorded 

 as stragglers to Ireland, and other facts of considerable ornithological 

 interest have come to light. It has therefore been thought that the 

 original character of the List will be best preserved by incorporating, 

 in the text, the notes left by Mr. More in manuscript on the blank pages 

 of his interleaved copy. A few recent occurrences of some of the rarest 

 Irish Birds are mentioned in footnotes ; and thanks are due to Dr. R. 

 F. Scharff, Curator of the Natural History Department, and to Mr. R. M. 

 Barrington, for valuable information kindly communicated for this 

 purpose. 



As in the previous editions,* the species represented in the Science 

 and Art Museum are distinguished by their being printed in Clarendon 

 Type, while the names of those Birds which are not in the collection 

 are printed in Italics. The asterisk is used to indicate the Birds which 

 breed in Ireland. The names and order followed are those of the 4th 

 edition (by Newton and Saunders) of YarrelPs British Birds, the stan- 

 dard work on the subject. 



The collection of Irish Birds now occupies part of the ground floor 

 of the Natural History Museum, in the space set apart for Irish Verte- 

 brate Animals. Besides the numerous specimens which have at various 

 times been purchased or presented, the Museum's native series com- 

 prises three of the most important collections formed in Dublin, viz.: 

 those of the late T. W. Warren and of the late R. J. Montgomery, 

 together with that of the Natural History Society of Dublin, which last 

 was presented to the Museum in 1880. Many of these birds are 

 mentioned by Thompson in his "Natural History of Ireland" (vols. 

 i-iii \J3irds\). 



Thompson's " Birds of Ireland" (1849-51) and Watters' "Natural 

 History of the Birds of Ireland" (1853) are well known, and much 

 information respecting Irish Birds will be found in the "Reports on 

 the Migration of Birds ' ' (from 1 88 1 ) and in ' ' The Zoologist. ' ' As other 

 useful sources of information may be mentioned " The Irish Natural- 

 ist"" (from 1892) and a small book by the Rev. C. Benson, entitled 

 " Our Irish Song-birds." 



*From which the latter paragraphs of this Introduction are principally 

 borrowed. 



