462 Contributions to the 



without having any label attached so it, a second specimen of Larus 

 Sabinii. Upon inquiry from Mr Wall, the very obliging curator 

 (who treasured the bird as a rarity, though he had not ascertained 

 its species,) I learned that it had been shot by himself in Dublin 

 Bay, near to Kingstown, a few years before, but he could not recol- 

 lect at what season. The stage of plumage, however, affords suffi- 

 cient evidence that it was killed in autumn, being a bird of the 

 first year, and similar in appearance to the specimen in the Belfast 

 Museum. 



The occurrence of only two specimens of this Gull within the 

 Eastern Hemisphere, has hitherto been recorded, both of which 

 were obtained by Captain Sabine at Spitzbergen. 



Cygnus Bewickii, Yarr. 



In the winter of 1 829-30, a specimen of the Cygnus Bewickii, 

 shot, I believe, in Lough Neagh, was brought to Belfast market. 

 It tvas purchased for the Natural History Society of that town, and 

 set up for their museum, the sternum, trachea, &c. being carefully 

 preserved. In February 1 830, a flock containing seven of these swans 

 alighted in a flooded meadow near Belfast, when they were shot at, 

 and two of them so disabled by the one discharge, as to be after 

 some difficulty secured. They were bought by my friend William 

 Sinclaire,Esq.; and on their wounds being found so trivial, as merely 

 to incapacitate them from flight, were placed in his aquatic mena- 

 gerie, where, in company with many other species of wild fowl, 

 chiefly Anatidae, they have ever since remained. On March 13, 

 1830, another specimen of C. Bewickii appeared in our market, and 

 met with a purchaser in my friend Richard Langtry, Esq., who has 

 it preserved in his collection. 



On a comparison of the first mentioned individual, with the de- 

 scription of Cygnus Bewickii by Mr Yarrell, * Mr Selby, + and 

 Sir William Jardine, J I found the internal structure to agree, 

 but in the external characters, there was one important difference, 

 the number of tail-feathers being 20 instead of 18, as specified by 

 these distinguished ornithologists. The result of this discrepancy 

 induced me in February last to examine Mr Sinclaire's birds, which 

 I did, with the assistance of that gentleman. These individuals 

 differed from the descriptions above referred to in the following 



* Linnsean Transactions, Vol. xvi. p. 445. et seq. 



■f Illustrations of British Ornithology, letter- press to, pro tempore, p. 119. 



f Jardine and Selby's Illustrations of British Ornithology, part 6. 



