264 [ pr0c - B.N.F.C, 



This part of the paper was illustrated by diagrams, and by speci- 

 mens of several varieties from the museum collections, and by two 

 very fine examples of the green woodpecker, shot near Witney, in 

 Oxfordshire, by C. Clinch, Esq. The subject of kingfishers was 

 also well illustrated by diagrams, and an extensive series of 

 specimens belonging to the museum, including several of our 

 native species (Alcedo hispida), which were obtained near Belfast. 

 Some interesting remarks were made by members of the Club as 

 to localities near Belfast where kingfishers were met with. One 

 member stated that a brood of seven was last year brought out by 

 a pair near Lisburn ; others gave information respecting the 

 appearance of the birds this spring on the Lagan, or on familiar 

 spots on both sides of the Lough ; but, acting on the adyice of the 

 president, members appeared unwilling to publish, for the benefit 

 of the sporting world, information better appreciated by the true 

 admirers of animated nature. The vice-president, Mr. William 

 Gray, made an eloquent appeal to the ladies of Belfast, a fair 

 sprinkling of whom graced the meeting, to desist from, and dis- 

 courage, the wearing of kingfishers in the so-called bonnets of the 

 period. His remarks were loudly cheered. 



Mr. William Gray, M.R.I.A., communicated some of the 

 results of " Hunting in the Sand-dunes." He explained that sand- 

 dunes were heaps of blown or drifted sand that occurred at several 

 places round the coast of Ireland, in common with most other 

 countries. Those heaps are called " dunes," from an old Saxon 

 word for mound or hillock. Sand-dunes are favourite resorts for 

 r abbits, and are frequently thereby converted into rabbit warrens, 

 and in some places the rabbits are so numerous at to be a source 

 of trade. When sand-dunes occur, as they frequently do, at the 

 mouths of rivers, or on prominent points near natural harbours, 

 they become good stations for fishing as well as hunting, and as 

 fish, particularly river fish, can be readily captured by simple 

 means, sand-dunes were very probably selected as camping grounds 





