PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
55 
the balmy south; the other already clad in winter’s garb, just arrived from the 
frozen north. Where had that little Plectrophanes rested his weary wing ? Whe¬ 
ther from Greenland, Spitzbergen, Iceland, or Norway he came, neither food nor rest 
had he ; but the geese could rest upon the water, and even find food amongst the 
floating Zostera. 
Dr. Kinahan made a few observations on Mr. Montgomery’s paper, with which 
he quite agreed, as he saw no greater difficulty in believing that the Egyptian goose 
was an occasional straggler to this country than in the case of those short-winged 
birds of Africa, and even America, which sometimes reach our shores. In addition to 
those mentioned by Mr. Montgomery, he might recal to the memory of the members 
the occurrence of the jay cuckoo, Ouculus glandarius, in the island of Omagh, and 
the great cowcow, Coccyzus Americanus, on several occasions both here and in Eng¬ 
land. Indeed, these birds could have no greater difficulty in reaching us from Africa 
than many of our annual summer jnigrants. As an instance of the manner in which 
some of these latter are occasionally driven out of their course, he might mention to 
them an incident which fell under his own observation during his late voyage. On the 
22nd March, 1855, being at the time in latitude 40 S. longitude 38 E., a swallow (H. 
rustica) flew on board during the evening, having first circled around the ship several 
times through the dusk. The bird seemed tired out, but not excessively so, when 
brought to him by the sailor who had captured it. It was plump, in good condition, 
and most beautiful plumage—in fact, the most perfect moult he had seen. He 
placed the bird in the cabin, where it remained during that night and a great part of 
the following day, feeding on the flies in the sky-light, but eventually made its way 
out on deck, and after remaining hovering about the ship for some time, took its 
departure in a northerly direction for a more congenial scene. Now, the bird evi¬ 
dently had been driven out of its course ; for though a very careful look-out was kept, 
no other land bird was seen, evidently proving there was not a regular migration 
going on at that place—the nearest land, the Marion Islands or Crozets, being up¬ 
wards of 400 miles away, and a most unlikely station for an insectivorous bird—so 
that it is more than probable that the bird had been driven from the main land, 
which was distant 700 miles in nearest point, or probably 1,200 miles in that from 
whence it is probable this bird was driven by the strong westerly gales which had 
been blowing for some time previous. Now, any one could understand how much 
easier it w r ould be for a bird like a duck or a goose to traverse an ocean, on which, 
when tired, it could rest, and from whose treasure it could obtain sustenance, than 
for a puny insectivorous feeder, no matter how great the power of the latter’s flight. 
Therefore, he thought it probable that these geese were bona fide stragglers to this 
country, and that we owed their presence here to causes other than the interference 
of man. 
After some further conversation, the chairman said, as the evening was not very far 
advanced he would call on Dr. Kinahan for some remarks relative to native ferns, 
although not in the notice paper. 
Dr. Kinahan rose and said—The few remarks I have to offer are in reference to 
a matter which it had been my intention to have brought long ere this fully before 
the society, had it not been for my departure from this country. They are more in 
the way of queries than actual opinions, and are thrown out now in the hope that 
some member may be able to take up the matter and clear up one of those doubtful 
points, now that the season for thoroughly examining them is arrived. It is with 
reference to the place which two of our British ferns should occupy in a natural 
arrangement—the common moonwort (Bot. lunariaj and the adders tongue (Oph. 
vulgare). Ferns, as you know, have been divided into two great classes, the annulate 
and exannulate—the divisions founded on the absence or presence of a jointed ring 
around the theca; the annulate being placed at the head of the list, z.e., next to the 
flowering plants ; the exannulate at the foot of the true ferns, as though they were 
the link between ferns and the other forms of acotyledons ; now, it would appear 
more natural to seek this link among such genera as Trichomanes or Hymenophyl- 
lum ; but to pass this over, it seems as if we give this character of the presence or 
absence of the ring too great a value; for an examination would lead us to believe 
that in all their other characters we find Botrychium and Ophioglossum more nearly 
approaching the flowering plants than the annulate ferns do—for instance, in their 
