IQI6. 
Robert Warren. 
37 
In 1875 Warren had the good fortune to be able to add 
the Pied Flycatcher [Muscicapa atricapilla) to the list of 
Irish birds. Shot at Moyview on the 19th of April in 
that year, the specimen remained until (curiously enough) 
the 19th of April, 1914 — when Mr. Barrington received one 
from Ballycottin lighthouse — the only example of the 
Pied Flycatcher known to have visited Ireland in spring, or, 
indeed, to have reached the Irish mainland at all. 
By this discovery, and by his observations on the 
Spotted Redshank, the Pomatorhine and Richardson's 
Skuas, the Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, Sandwich Tern, and 
other little -known visitants, Robert Warren soon came to 
be recognised as the only ornithologist possessing an ex- 
haustive famiharity with the birds of the Irish West ; so 
that when, in 1890, the preparation of a new book on Irish 
birds was planned with a view to embodying in a standard 
work the knowledge acquired since Thompson's day, the 
inclusion of Warren's name in the Committee formed for 
the purpose was almost a matter of course. With him 
were associated More, Ussher, and Barrington, and the 
preliminary step was at once taken of announcing in the 
Zoologist that the book had been taken in hands. 
It is of course well known that when " The Birds of 
Ireland " appeared, it was not the work of four, but (so far 
as the actual writing was concerned) practically of one 
man — R. J. Ussher. Failing health prevented More from 
taking more than a nominal part in the undertaking ; 
absorption in his more special work on the lighthouse 
observations compelled Barrington to forego his share in 
the larger scheme ; and Warren, while placing his 
voluminous notes entirely at the disposal of his remaining 
colleague, had such confidence in Ussher's power to deal 
with all the material in his hands that he took no part in 
the writing, except as regards half-a-dozen favourite species. 
Ussher was, of course, largely indebted to Warren for a mass 
of facts dealing with the western birds ; and he would 
gladly have made a far larger use than he actually did of 
that material, had the publishers not deemed it necessary 
to place rather stringent limitations on the space to which 
they could allow the volume to run. 
