578 
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 
[THOMPSON 
Thompson (William), 1805-52 
This well-known Irish ornithologist was the son of a linen 
merchant in Belfast, and was born in that city December 2, 
1805 , and apprenticed to the linen trade, 1820 . For a time 
he carried on his father’s business, but apparently with little 
success, and ultimately abandoned it and devoted himself 
to science. In 1826 he went for a four months’ tour on the 
Continent and published his first bird paper in the following 
year. In 1840 his Report on the Fauna of Ireland to the 
British Association at Glasgow brought him into notice. 
In 1841 he went on a voyage to the Levant with Edward 
Forbes, and about that time began to publish his valuable 
papers on the Birds of Ireland in the Annals and Magazine 
of Natural History. The first volume of his History appeared 
in 1849 , and the fourth (on Mammals) posthumously in 1856 
under the editorship of Robert Patterson, George Dickie, 
and Robert Ball. In 1843 he was elected President of the 
Natural History Society of Belfast. 
He died February 17 , 1852 , while on a visit to London, 
but was interred at Belfast. He was never married. 
Cones had a high opinion of his Natural History of Ireland , 
stating that his “ numerous detached papers on the same 
subject, no less than the present work, show him to have 
been a close, accurate, and faithful observer for a period of 
years, and whose results are sufficient to place him among 
the very first writers on this special subject. It may be not 
inapt to compare him with his Scotch compeer, Macgillivray, 
at least in originality, fidelity, and diligence. The work is 
a practical out of doors ornithology, carefully digested in 
the study, with abundant consultation of other writers.” 
1834. Catalogue of seventeen species of Birds new to the Irish Fauna. 
(P.Z.S. ii., 1834, pp. 29-31.) 
1835. Notices of some additions to the British Fauna. (Op. cit. iii., 1835, 
pp. 77-82.) 
1837-38. Contributions to the Natural History of Ireland. (Mag. of 
Zool. and Bot. i., 1837, pp. 459-65 ; ii., 1838, pp. 42-57, 170-79, 
427-40 ; Ann. of Nat. Hist, i., 1838, pp. 12-26, 181-95.) 
Irish Vertebrate Animals : selected from the Papers of the late 
