54 



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

 proper to lay the statement as I received it before this Society, with 

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

 cent ; but again, might not this be attributed to the well-known 

 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 curve being reckoned, is 

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

 base, 26^ inches. 



As the elk inhabited a wide range of latitude on the continent of 

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

 native of Ireland, especially when the Cervus Hiberniis, a species of 

 greater magnitude, was indigenous to the country. In the Annalcs 

 des Sciences NattireUes for 1835, t. iv. (new series), portions of the 

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

 from sjieciraens found in a fossil state at Pez6nas. 



Birds, new to Ireland. 



Strix Scops, Temm. Scops-eared Owl. I have been informed 

 by Ilobert Ball, Esq., of Dublin, that an owl of this species was shot 

 in the month of July a few years ago by the gamekeeper at Lough- 

 crew, county of Meath, the seat of J. W. L. Napier, Esq., in whose 

 possession it now is. The specimen was kindly sent to Dublin for 

 the examination of Mr. Ball, who states in a letter to me that it 

 i:)roved identical with a Strix Scops that I have seen in his collection. 



Colymhus arcticus, Linn. Black-throated Diver. In the collec- 

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

 bird, which was shot during winter in Lame Lough, county of An- 

 trim. It is in the plumage of the first year. 



* Pi'oceUariaPvffinus.hmn. Cinereous Shearwater. Of this species 

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

 I have now to notice a second specimen, respecting which Mr. Ro- 

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

 particulars. " It AA'as taken in August 1835, by a boy who saw it 

 scrambling towards a hole at the base of a cliff near Dungarvan, 

 county of Waterford. They are called hagdowns by the fishermen, 

 who say that they breed there and live in holes in the rocks, but are 

 at all times very scarce. The specimen was sent to me alive, 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 extremely 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 along with its breast 

 about an inch from the ground. Although its wings were perfect 

 and uninjured, it made no attempt to fly, but if let fall from a height 

 drojiped heavily to the ground. It showed an inclination to climb, 

 having several times mounted up the handle of a long spade that 



