Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/18

 inland area should we hope to find so many, as amid the seclusion of that little earthly paradise, with all the "kindly aspects, and sloping coverts," pourtrayed in the pages of its amiable historian. By drawing a circuit of thirty miles around Belfast, and its most populous neighbourhood, (the boundary line being a mile and a half inland from the town, and eight miles and a half seaward, so that the opposite verge may include the greater portion of the bay,) we shall find that at least 185 species have been seen within it, some of them, too, possessing very high interest. Within that circle have appeared the first individuals of several species placed on record as visiting Ireland, and the only examples of three species yet obtained; namely, the spotted redshank, the flat-billed sandpiper, and the surf scoter. Within the limited circuit of thirty miles, alighted in 1802, the first white-banded cross-bill (Loxia bifasciata) known to visit Europe, its native country being Siberia; nor for many years afterwards was the species observed in Great Britain, or in any country of continental Europe. Indeed within the last few years only, has it been distinguished from a nearly allied North American bird. Within the same range occurred the only individual of the Bonapartian gull (Larus Bonapartii) yet ascertained to have migrated to Europe, the species being a native of North America, and common in the fur countries, &c. Within that area was also obtained the first fork-tailed gull (Larus Sabini) known to wing its way southward, not only to temperate climes, but towards the continent of Europe; and being a young bird of the year, it appeared in a garb, in which the species had never before come under the notice of the naturalist.

But to return to the remark of White, respecting the parish of Selborne producing more species than the half of those found in all Sweden, it must be observed, that as a general rule the number