Dublin Natural History Society. 4213 



Mr. Andrews said he could confirm Mr. Williams's statement that the badger was 

 not uncommon in parts of Kerry. In some of the lonely recesses of the natural woods 

 the marten was very frequent, and did much damage in destroying the young of the 

 game-birds of the country. Mr. Andrews had every reason to believe that the true 

 wild cat was at one time well known in the Fiadhghleanna, or wild glens of the western 

 parts of Kerry, for the description he got of it was totally different from that of the 

 marten. The marten was called in Kerry " cat crann" (cat of the wood), and the wild 

 cat known as the " cat fiadhachd" (hunting cat). The black rat some years since was 

 very plentiful at a farm near Ballynunnery, county Carlow. 



Occurrence of the Membranaceous Duck in Ireland. 



Mr. Andrews made the following observations on this recent addition to the Orni- 

 thology of Great Britain : — 



" This handsome species of duck was shot in the month of February, on the east 

 side of Inch Island, Dingle Bay, in Castlemaine harbour, by a person who was in the 

 habit of looking for water-fowl. There had been previously severe gales from the south- 

 west, and he had noticed some birds which he considered were teal or the small brown 

 wigeon. A flock of six birds were feeding in a muddy creek, at low water, and firing 

 among them, the present specimen was the only one shot. He preserved the bird for 

 Mr. Ross Townsend, the chief officer of coast guard, stationed at Cromane, Castle- 

 maine harbour, who is well experienced, and has long been familiar with the varieties 

 of water- fowl visiting that coast. Mr. Townsend at once saw that it was a species 

 perfectly new to him, and he very kindly forwarded it to me in June last. After a 

 most careful examination, I could not identify it with auy of the described birds of 

 Europe or of America ; but fortunately having had the opportunity of visiting the 

 British Museum in August, I readily recognised it as the membranaceous duck 

 {Malacorhynchus membranaceus) of South Australia. Two specimens are labelled 

 as having been sent home and presented by his Excellency Captain G. Grey, from 

 South Australia, and are by no means a common species. On further inquiries, Mr. 

 Townsend informs me that numerous small flocks of teal were occasionally seen feed- 

 ing in the same locality, and that the person who shot the bird imagined the flock to 

 be teal, and was therefore not led to examine them more carefully ; but the impression 

 made was, that they were all the same. After being fired at they flew to the eastward, 

 in Castlemaine harbour. It is not probable that a solitary stranger, among a flock 

 either of teal or of wigeon, would be the victim. The generic name, Malacorhyn- 

 chus, appears to have been established by Swainson, the bill being similar to that of 

 the Chauliodus, or common gadwall, but having the substance soft, the tips of the 

 upper mandible on each side being furnished with a loose angular skin or membrane — 

 the finely pectinated laminae of the upper mandible are like those of the shoveller 

 {Anas clypeata), prolonged beyond the margins. These singular membranaceous 

 appendages to the mandibles give it the specific name. There appears to me some 

 confusion in the adoption of generic names, as the Chauliodus of Swainson, for the 

 gadwall, adopted by Selby and other authors, already formed the genus Chauliodus of 

 Schneider, followed by Cuvier, in the Ichthyology of his ' Animal Kingdom.' The 

 Chauliodus belongs to the Esocidae — pike family ; Chauliodus being the only species 

 known of that fish, and never taken except at Gibraltar. This small duck, the 

 Malacorhynchus membranaceus, now recorded as visiting this country, has hitherto 

 not been known out of Australia. It is termed ' Wrongi,' in New South Wales, and is 

 XII. I 



