240 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The Birds of the County Cork. By E. J. Ussher. Contributed 

 to the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological 

 Society. Thin 4to, pp. 23. Cork: Guy & Co. 1894. 



More than a dozen years have elapsed since we endeavoured, 

 in an article published in this Journal,* to arouse the apathy of 

 Irish naturalists in regard to the preparation of a new Irish 

 Fauna. We pointed out the great need of either a new edition 

 of Thompson's work, or a fresh undertaking, and urged the 

 formation of a Committee for the purpose of dividing the labour 

 and expediting publication. It was perhaps not too much to 

 expect that such a work might be completed in something less 

 than ten years ; but twelve years have now elapsed, and the 

 matter is still apparently in statu quo ! We are quite at a loss to 

 understand this want of energy on the part of our confreres in 

 Ireland. It is true that the formation of a Committee has been 

 long ago announced, but we have not heard of any meetings 

 of this Committee, nor of any instalment, published under its 

 auspices, of the great work for which we are so impatient. 

 That individual members of the Committee are not idle in 

 regard to Irish natural history we have good reason to know, 

 for they not only continue to favour us from time to time with 

 excellent articles for * The Zoologist' (for which we are duly 

 grateful), but they have also started a new journal, * The Irish 

 Naturalist,' which we trust will awaken a wider interest in the 

 subject throughout Ireland, and be the means of eliciting much 

 useful information from various parts of the country. Still we 

 are not happy. We want a new text-book on the Fauna of 

 Ireland, and would once more urge upon Irish naturalists the 

 extreme desirability of providing it. 



Mr. R. J. Ussher has recently shown what can be done in a 

 single county by a contribution on the Birds of the County Cork, 

 and a goodly list he has been able to make out. It is perhaps 

 to be regretted that he has not prefaced his remarks with 

 some sort of introduction indicating the physical features of the 

 county, and summarising the results of the observations which 

 follow. But his notes on the various species which have been 

 ascertained to occur will be read with interest by ornithologists, 

 as well as the appended remarks by Mr. Robert Warren. 



* "The Annals of Irish Zoology," Zool. 1881, pp.433— 445; 473—483. 



