Annual Meeting. 5 



The draft scheme for the government of the Society, as 

 approved at last Annual Meeting, and finally settled between 

 the Commissioners and the Council, will shortly come into 

 operation. Meantime, your Council retire from oflSce as usual, 

 and this meeting will be asked to select fifteen members to form 

 a new Council." 



Mr. Praeger, one of the secretaries of the Ulster Fauna 

 Committee, submitted their report, as follows : — 



" The secretaries of the Ulster Fauna Committee report that 

 their work has steadily progressed during the past year. Several 

 new observers and correspondents have been added to their list, 

 and the letters received almost daily have been answered or 

 acknowledged. A list of Irish freshwater fishes has been com- 

 piled and circulated freely amongst anglers and others through- 

 out Ulster, with satisfactory results. The most notable event 

 of the year is the acquisition of the late Mr. Robt. Gage's 

 collection of the birds of Rathlin Island, which has been secured 

 for the Museum through the efforts of the secretaries ; and the 

 donor. Miss Adelaide Gage, deserves the best thanks of the 

 Society for her very valuable gift. There are 153 specimens of 

 Rathlin birds, amongst the most uncommon of which are the 

 following : — A female king eider, the third or fourth Irish 

 example ; a male and a female eider duck, several long-tailed 

 ducks, a fulmar petrel, and glaucous gulls ; while all the 

 characteristic Rathlin birds are represented, such as the raven, 

 the peregrine, the hooded crow, the chough, ducks, geese, and 

 swans. Miss Gage's gift also includes a number of seabirds* 

 eggs obtained on the island. The secretaries have secured 

 several other rare birds for the Museum, such as a pink-footed 

 goose, the first Irish specimen ; glaucous and Iceland gulls, and 

 a black tern. The secretaries would urge on members and 

 others interested in natural history the importance of co- 

 operating with the Committee in their efforts to further the 

 knowledge of the Irish Fauna. All specimens or information 



