132 ARDEIDiE. 



also, not to have occurred on the mainland of Scotland for a 

 long period ; but has, within the present century, been met with 

 in the Shetland islands.* In Smith's History of the county of 

 Waterford, published in the year 1745, the following appears : — 

 "The crane {Grus), which is a bird of passage. During the 

 great frost of 1739 some few cranes were seen in this county ; but 

 not since or before in any person's memory." The same author, 

 in his History of the county of Cork, published in 1749, remarks 

 that — " The crane was seen in this county during the remarkable 

 frost in 1739 ; but they do not breed with us." 



In March 1834 Mr. Glennon, bird preserver, informed me that 

 a crane, then in the museum of the Eoyal Dublin Society, and 

 seen by him in a fresh state, was shot in the county of Galway 

 about twenty -five years previously. By letter from Richard Chute, 

 Esq., written in 1846, I was assured that "a crane was shot in 

 Tralee bay, about twenty years ago, by the Rev. John Chute, now 

 rector of Roscommon." My correspondent, though but young at 

 the time, saw the bird : — he states, on the additional authority of 

 the shooters and others, that it was unquestionably the Grus 

 cinerea. 



This species winters in Africa ; and annually migrates to 

 Scandinavia, and other northern countries, for the purpose of 

 breeding. 



* Dr. Fleming remarks that " A small flock appeared during harvest in 1807, in 

 Tingwall, Zetland, as I was informed by the Rev. John Turubull," (Hist. Brit. Anim. 

 p. 97). Mr. Dunn, who has written an " Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and 

 Shetland," was told that two cranes had been shot in the latter group of islands 

 between the spring of 1831 and 1832 (p. 84). Mr. J. Wolley gives a full account 

 of one which frequented Shetland for three or four months in the summer and 

 autumn of 1848. He adds (in Nov. 1848) that " Several years since one was shot 

 in South Ronaldsha, one of the Orkneys," (Zoologist, Feb. 1849, p. 2353), 



