DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
87 
DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
SESSION 1857-58. 
FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1858. 
Professor W. H. Harvey, M.D., M.R.I.A., E.L.S., President, 
in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the previous Meeting having been read and con¬ 
firmed— 
Mr. R. P. Williams apologised for the unavoidable absence of Mr. 
Andrews, owing to which Lord Clermont’s communication, relative to 
the Mute Swan, was postponed. He had to present, on behalf of Lord 
Clermont, a specimen of the mute swan ( C . olor), captured under cir¬ 
cumstances which left little doubt of its being a truly wild specimen 
(vide “ Proceedings” for Eebruary, 1858, postea). 
A special vote of thanks was passed to Lord Clermont for his dona¬ 
tion. 
Mr J. B. Doyle submitted to the Society a communication he had re¬ 
ceived from his friend, Robert Evatt, Esq., Mount Louise, an observant 
naturalist, in reference to the habits of the mute swan, whether it was 
known that the male bird assisted and relieved the female bird on the 
nest during the season of hatching ? He had observed the male swan 
- preparing the nest, and sitting on it, previous to the eggs being laid by 
the female; but, although he had for some time been watching, he never 
could detect the male swan in the act of incubation, until one evening, 
rowing over to the island, he found him actually on the nest, the female 
not being in sight—the bird was sitting, at the time, on six eggs. Al¬ 
though he had been endeavouring for twenty years to breed swans, he had 
never succeeded until lately—the eggs never maturing—until he con¬ 
structed a kind of hut with poles and fir branches over the nest, and with 
this protection he succeeded in rearing young birds. Thunder or very 
stormy weather was apt to destroy the young birds in the eggs unless 
shelter was formed over the nest. Mr. Doyle wished for information on 
these points from, the experience of any of the members. 
Mr. Robert John Montgomery observed that the habits of the mute 
swan had long been familiar to him, and that he had constantly seen the 
male bird on the nest hatching. Pie was surprised to hear that any 
difficulty had been experienced in hatching the eggs. He always found 
them extremely prolific, and managed with very little care. 
Mr. R. P. Williams confirmed the fact of the male swan generally 
assisting the female in her duties. 
