THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 233.— May, 1896. 



ON the REPORTED OCCURRENCE of the GOLD-VENTED 

 THRUSH and SPOTTED EAGLE OWL in IRELAND. 



By Richard J. Ussher. 



In his " Handbook of the Birds of Great Britain, 1 ' published 

 in Allen's * Naturalists' Library,' Mr. Sharpe writes (vol. i. 

 p. 318): — "A specimen of a Pycnonotus is said to have been 

 shot near Waterford in January, 1838, by Dr. R. Burkitt, and 

 skinned by him. It turns out to be the Bulbul of South Africa, 



P. capensis There is not the slightest probability of the 



bird having migrated from the Cape to Ireland, and the supposi- 

 tion that it might have been an escaped specimen might have 

 been entertained but for the fact that an Eagle Owl, shot in Ireland 

 by the same gentleman, turned out to be another South African 

 species, viz. Bubo maculosus. There seems, therefore, to be some 

 mistake connected with the occurrence of these African species in 

 Ireland, and the birds had better be dropped out of the British 

 list altogether." I can well understand the propriety of ex- 

 cluding from our avifauna a species that may have escaped from 

 confinement, and has only occurred once ; but as to the facts of 

 both these birds having been shot near Waterford I wish to 

 remove all misconception. 



My valued friend Dr. Burkitt died on July 3rd, 1893, at the 

 age of eighty-six. Previously to 1830 he began to collect and 

 preserve native birds, and continued to do so for more than fifty 

 years in Waterford, and subsequently at Belmullet. Little or no 

 interest was taken in his pursuits by his fellow-townsmen. He 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XX. MAY, 1896. O 



