184 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



Since the Birds of Ireland, perhaps the most laborious 

 work he undertook was revising More's List of Irish Birds 

 for the National Museum, and. writing Part XX. (Aves) 

 for the Clare Island Survey. A list of his more important 

 ornithological papers is given at the end of this memoir. 



He was fond of archaeology, and it was Prof. Leith- 

 Adams who chiefly aroused his interest in cave-digging. 

 Ussher pubHshed with him, and in conjunction with 

 others, many papers on cave-exjjloration. The brunt 

 of the labour and a large share of the expense were 

 always borne by him. He thoroughly enjoyed working 

 underground, and he provided himself with a complete 

 digging equipment. So far back as 1879, a paper 

 appears in the Zoologist under his name on a cavern 

 near Cappagh, and he explored with Leith- Adams 

 the Shandon Cave, and the hmestone cave on his own 

 property at Ballynahemery, and after Prof. Adams's 

 death, the Keshcoran Cave in SHgo, the Edenvale Cave 

 in Clare, and the Castle Pook Cave near Doneraile. 



He was always accompanied by his faithful valet, 

 John Power, and. usually erected a hut at the mouth of 

 the cave, spending weeks laying bare the bones of 

 mammoths, bear, red deer, hyaenas, lemmings, etc.. 

 The hysena and three of the lemmings he was the first 

 to discover in Ireland. Thousands of bones and many 

 interesting pre-historic human relics have been deposited 

 in the National Museum, Dublin ; its Curator, Dr. Scharff, 

 rendering valuable assistance in their identification. The 

 writer well remembers a visit paid to Castle Pook ; 

 when shown into his " room " (one side of the hut) the 

 huge shoulder-blade of a mammoth, just exhumed, 

 was found laid out on the bed. 



Nothing, however, pleased Ussher more than the 

 finding of the remains of the Great Auk in co. Waterford 

 and other locahties, and at the time of his death he 

 was preparing a further report on cave-exploration. 



Though by no means a rich man, he gave a few years 

 ago a sum of £300 to the Royal Irish Academy to 

 promote the study of Zoology in Ireland, including 

 researches in Irish caves, and he bequeathed to the 

 same body all his manuscripts, books, schedules, notes 



