PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
25 
Corvas frugilegus. Very common. 
„ monedula. Too common. 
Pica caudata. Common. 
Garrulus glandarius. A single pair seen in Stillorgan Park. 
Certhia familiaris. A few pair about Donnybrook. 
Troglodytes Europasus. Common. 
Cuculus canorus. Scarce about Donnybrook ; common, however, in the County 
Dublin generally, especially about Mountpelier and Clondalkin, at which last 
locality, on the 17th June, 1848, I had, while in company with my friend, Dr. 
W. Haughton, the pleasure of having the truth of LeVaillant’s theory, concern¬ 
ing the manner in which this bird deposits its egg in its future niches, entirely 
confirmed. My friend succeeded in winging a female cuckoo as she was rising ; 
she fell into a ditch, owing to the depth of which several minutes elapsed before 
we could get her out. Having obtained the bird, I proceeded to kill her, by 
pressing on her breast, having my thumb on the cavity formed by the os fur- 
catum, when I felt something slip from under my thumb, with a gurgling sound. 
Dr. Haughton, attracted by the sound, turned at the same moment, and we both 
saw an egg in the act of falling to the ground, from whence I picked it up, per¬ 
fectly uninjured. This egg agrees with all descriptions I could obtain, and on 
being shown to Dr. Ball, he at once recognised it as a cuckcoo’s. On dissection 
by Professor Allman, the bird proved to be a young female, and had in her 
ovary two full-grown eggs, one ready to pass into the oviduct. No remains of 
eggs could be detected in her stomach, even when examined with a powerful 
microscope. Pull details may be found in the Appendix to “Thompson’s Birds,” 
page 442. The egg and the skin are in the collection of the Dublin Natural 
History Society. 
Alcedo ispida. Occasionally met with on the Dodder, at Donnybrook ; abundant 
higher up the river. 
Hirundo rustica. Common ; used to breed in Donnybrook Church. 
,, urbica. Common. 
„ riparia. Do. 
Cypselus apus. Do. 
Caprimulgus Europasus. I have seen a specimen from Howtli. 
This concludes the list of the Raptorial and Insessorial tribes. On a future 
occasion, I hope to give a list of the Rasorial, Grallatorial, and Natatorial families 
found here. 
After some conversation, the meeting adjourned. 
DECEMBER 16, 1854. 
Robert Ball, LL.D., President, in the Chair. 
H. T. Stainton, Esq., Mountfield, Lewisham, Kent, was elected a correspond¬ 
ing member. 
The President gave a demonstration on the Coracidae, being in continuation of 
a series illustrative of the collection in the University Museum, and exhibited va¬ 
rious species remarkable for the brilliancy of their plumage, especially the Trogon 
resplendens. 
Mr. A. R. Hogan exhibited a coloured drawing, by J. Walter Lea, Esq., corres¬ 
ponding member, of a remarkable variety of Pieris daplidice (?), taken by him in 
Worcestershire, and read the following extract from his letter :— 
“ The distinctions between the present insect and the Pieris daplidice are obvious ; 
all the dark markings on the anterior wings, and the difference of the marks on the 
costal edge, which in the new Pieris rather follow those of the Vanessas. Moreover 
(though this is scarcely perceptible in the figure), the small branch emitted from the 
third branch of the postcostal nerve, close to the apex of the fore wing, which Mr. 
Westwood mentions as typically characteristic of the Pierides, and as being wanting 
in P. daplidice, is found in this other species. The wings also are more transparent, 
the markings on the under side of the posterior wings being not only much more 
YOL. II. 
c 
