52 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
Doctor Smith gave a clear detail of a malignant form of disease affecting the 
meta-carpus of the red deer, and which probably caused the death of the animal, 
as seen in a bone from Kerry, presented to him by William Andrews, Esq. This 
peculiar disease affected the articulated extremities of bones, causing the ex¬ 
pansion of the bone into a large kind of tumour. 
Mr. James Haughton wished to record the occurrence of the common Bittern, 
Botaurus stellaris, in the County of Kildare and Queen’s County. One was shot 
in Dunmanway bog, near Mageney, by Mr. Moore, of the railway station, during 
the severe frost in the beginning of January, and who saw another in the same 
locality. Another was shot at in Ballyteigue bog, Queen’s County. It is of 
interest to record these birds in the country, as, from drainage and reclamation of 
lands, they are becoming almost extinct in their haunts. 
Mr. O’Reilly exhibited branches of the hawthorn, having peculiar excrescences 
on the young shoots. The general opinions offered were, that they were the pro¬ 
duction of an insect, and not caused by fungoid growth. 
After ballot, the Reverend Joseph Galbraith, F.T.C.D., and Doctor Frazer, 
Dublin, were declared elected ordinary members. 
The meeting then adjourned till the month of March. 
MARCH 14, 1856. 
R. C allwell, Esq., M.R.I.A., in the Chair. 
The minutes of the preceding meeting having been read and signed, 
Mr. Andrews, Honorary Secretary, rose and said that it gave him much pleasure 
to have to submit to the Society an interesting communication from one of their 
members, Lord Clermont, accompanied by a valuable donation of birds for the 
Museum of the Society, viz., a fine male specimen of the Egyptian goose (Ch. 
JEgyptiacus), shot in Belfast Lough in 1853, being one of a flock of these birds 
seemingly in a wild state; a fine specimen of the black-tailed godwit (Limosa 
melanura), and also of the male golden-eye in full plumage, obtained from Lough- 
gill, Sligo, in 1850. Mr. Andrews then read the accompanying communication as 
follows:— 
u Birds observed near Ravensdale Park, during the last 18 months—Peregrine 
Falcon (Falco Peregrinus). A fine female shot near Armagh, in a populous dis¬ 
trict, October, 1855. 
Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa Griseola. One pair breed yearly near Ravensdale 
village, Louth. 
Mountain Finch, Fringilla Montifringilla. Five were killed in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Ravensdale Park, February, 1855. 
Rose coloured Pastor (Pastor Rosens). One in full plumage was shot near 
Carrickmacross, Monaghan, in a garden, August, 1855. 
Bittern, Butor Stellaris. One shot near Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Nov., 1854. 
One near Clermont Park, Louth, February, 1856. 
Night Heron (Nycticorax Europasus), One shot by a countryman at Inniskeen, 
Monaghan, January 16, 1855. I saw it the day after ; it was in immature plumage, 
it rose from a marsh. 
Black tailed Godwit (Limosa Melanura). One shot near Dundalk, Oct., 1855. 
Long tailed Duck (Harelda Glacialis). A male bird in good*plumage, caught 
on a fishing line at Lurgan Green, Louth, in March, 1855. 
Smew (Mergus Albellus). A female shot near Carrickmacross, Dec., 1854. 
I have seen in every case the birds which the foregoing list mentions as having 
been obtained at Clermont.” 
The Chairman said that the Society was much indebted for the donations that 
Lord Clermont had presented, and particularly for the interesting records of the 
birds occurring in his neighbourhood. He hoped that his lordship’s example would 
he followed by others, not only in this, but with reference to the occurrences of rare 
animals in other branches of natural history. 
Mr. Andrews then begged to present from himself a specimen of the greater 
shearwater (Puffinus major), captured on a fisherman’s line off the coast of Kerry. 
