WARREN ON THE OCCURRENCE OF RARE BIRDS. 2-'j 



The Rev. William Hugh Ferrar, F. T. C. D., was declared elected 

 an Ordinary Member of the Society. 



The Meeting then adjourned. 



FEBRUARY 2, 1866. 



D. Moore, Ph. D., F. L. S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding meeting were passed and signed. 



The following paper was then read : — 



Occasional Notes on the Occurrence of Rare Birds on the Shores 

 of the River Mot and Killala Bay. No. IV. By Robert 

 Warren, Jun., Corresponding Member. 



It is with much pleasure that I again have the honour of bringing under 

 the notice of the Society the occurrence on our west coast of such rare 

 visitors as the Pomarine Skua (Lestris pomarinus) and Fulmar Petrel 

 {Procellaria glacialis). 



The Pomarine Skua was observed to frequent the estuary of the 

 River Moy for some days about the middle of last October, and as usual 

 created the greatest commotion amongst the Gulls and Terns during its 

 stay on the river ; and on one occasion, while I stood watching it in 

 chase of a Gull, it passed so very close to me that I had an excellent 

 opportunity for observing its plumage, which appeared to be that of the 

 adult, with the exception of wanting the long tail feather. This bird 

 was probably a straggler from one of the great flocks of the October mi- 

 gration, such as that (as recorded in the " Proceedings" of the Society) 

 witnessed by me in October, 1862; and also in TraleeBay, by Mr. J. C. 

 Neligan, in the same month. 



The Fulmar I picked up dead on the Enniscrone sands on the 3rd of 

 November, and was probably driven into the bay by the heavy northerly 

 gales of the 1st of November. It was a very fine bird, and was nearly 

 in the full adult state of plumage, but still showed a few dusky-co- 

 loured feathers on the wing coverts. On picking it up I found that it 

 was utterly worthless as a specimen for preservation, in consequence 

 of its breast being eaten away by the Black-backed Gulls. This was the 

 more annoying as the Fulmar was quite fresh, and evidently came ashore 

 by that morning's tide. 



From all received accounts, the Fulmar appears to be of very rare 

 occurrence on the Irish coast ; and Thompson, in his work on the Birds 

 of Ireland, mentions only three specimens as being obtained — two shot 

 on the Cork coast, and the third in Dublin Bay. Now, these three, to- 

 gether with those obtained by myself (and already noticed in the " Pro- 

 ceedings" of the Society), comprise altogether only seven specimens of 

 the Fulmar obtained in Ireland. We thus have an account of the Fulmar 

 being obtained on the east, south, and west coasts ; but, strange to say, 

 notwithstanding that the north coast is so much more favourably situated 



