Haughton appreciated the bird very much, and in dissecting it 

 he was greatly interested with the peculiarity which the Presi- 

 dent had just spoken of. 



The President said that the peculiar formation of which he 

 had been speaking was known long before Dr. Haughton was 

 heard of. Resuming his observations, Dr. Cunningham said he 

 was amused to hear of the fighting qualities of the quail. 

 Concluding his observations, Dr. Cunningham referred to a very 

 interesting species of grass mentioned by Mr. Robinson as 

 occurring at Lough Neagh, and in this connection he paid a 

 becoming tribute to the late Mr. Corry and Mr. Dickson, who, 

 if they had been spared, would have been yet amongst the most 

 eminent botanists in Ireland. 



Rev. Dr. Grainger, calling attention to the statement with 

 reference to Dr. Haughton, observed that, of course, Dr. Haugh- 

 ton was too able a scientist not to know that the peculiar 

 formation of the patella of the grebe was not his discovery ; 

 but what Dr. Haughton desired to establish in connection with 

 that fact was that the variation in that particular is attended 

 by variations in the form of the entire bird. 



The President then requested Mr. R. L. Patterson to favour 

 the meeting with some observations, the subject being one to 

 which Mr. Patterson paid much attention. 



Mr. Patterson expressed his appreciation of the interesting 

 statements made by Mr. Robinson, He was much gratified to 

 find amongst the seven rare birds three that were thoroughly 

 oceanic birds. The long-tailed duck is a very rare bird, and 

 he, in the course of some fifteen years, had met with only three 

 specimens in the Belfast Lough. They are known on the west 

 coast of Scotland, and Mr. Gray, a Scotch naturalist, has pub- 

 lished very interesting accounts of their occurrence on the 

 Western Isles. It was, indeed, a novelty that such a thoroughly 

 oceanic bird as the eider duck should have occurred in fresh 

 water. He was not surprised to hear that the scoter duck was 

 found at Lough Neagh, and had often been surprised to hear 

 that it was not seen at that Lough, because it occurs so 

 abundantly in Belfast Lough, sometimes in numbers covering 



