XVI 
PREFACE. 
But on this subject the following information on species, at 
particular periods, is given, that we may judge of the changes 
which have taken place, either as to their decrease or increase. 
Those which have decreased in number shall first be considered. 
According to the Topographia Hibernia? of Giraldus de Barri 
(Cambrensis), written towards the end of the 12th century, 
the crane was very common in Ireland, about a hundred being 
sometimes seen in a flock. If the bird meant by that author 
were the true crane (Grus cinerea), and not the heron ( Ardea 
cinerea), commonly called by that name in Ireland to the present 
day, the stately bird would seem to have been once as common 
here, as it was, in early times, in England. The latest published 
record of its occurrence in this island known to me, is that of 
Smith, who, in his Histories of Waterford (1715) and Cork 
(1749), remarks, that a few were seen in those counties during 
the great frost of 1739. They are mentioned as birds of passage, 
which do not breed ; and in the former work are said not to have 
been seen “ since or before in any person’s memory” Two 
instances of the occurrence of single individuals in Ireland in the 
present century will be found noticed under the species in the 
present work. That noble bird, the cock of the wood ( Tetrao 
urogalius ), was plentiful throughout the native forests of Ireland, 
but has long since become extinct, the last bird having been 
killed about a century since. The great bustard (Otis tarda), 
too, an inhabitant of the open plain, disappeared about the same 
period. 
In “ A Brife description of Ireland made in this yeere 1589, 
by Bobert Payne,” it is stated : — “ There be great store of wild 
swannes, * * * much more plentiful than in England.” 
Harris, in his History of the County of Down published in 1744, 
remarks of the wild swan (Cygnus ferns) : — “ Great numbers of 
