place within that time; this was in 1842, when it was not seen until the 13th of the month. In 1836, one was observed as early as the 16th of April; and in 1844, on the 18th of that month. Although this bird and the whitethroat usually arrive about the same time, the sedge warbler is generally the first seen, but in 1842, the contrary occurred in the districts which came under my own observation, white-throats having appeared on the 23rd of April, and the allied species not until the 13th of May. The 5th of September is the latest date at which I have known it to be met with,-when one was seen and heard to sing on the banks of the Lagan; but further observation may perhaps show that the bird remains until a later period, as it does in England.* The migration of the sedge warbler extends to the extreme northwest of Ireland, where on the 1st of July, 1832, I heard and saw one near Dunfanaghy :-Mr. Stewart, in his Catalogue of the Birds, &c., of Donegal, observes that the species is common. This gentleman further remarks that "it is one of the latest of our spring visitants, and certainly one of the most interesting in its manners, though from its shy habits and constant restlessness, it is difficult of access; and from the unceasing variety of its borrowed song, and its retirement, often passed unnoticed. Often have I been so deceived by its imitative strain, that on its assuming the clear note of the thrush, the hoarse twitter of the sparrow, or the vocal power of some other songster, I have given up my pursuit of it, supposing it must have stolen off in a different direction, and have only been undeceived when it has had recourse to its natural harsh, chiding, and oft repeated note. Frequently it rises above the brake in which, perhaps, concealed his helpmate is assiduously attending to the duties of incubation, and beguiles her of her weary hours, by imitating the lark, both in its melodious strains and gestures." -Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 581. Mr. James R. Garrett has frequently heard the sedge warbler make a cricket-like noise for a long time, as the grasshopper warbler is described to do, and then suddenly burst out into the song of the swallow, or some other bird. Throughout the northern counties generally, * Selby's Ill. Brit. Orn. vol. i. p. 202.

it has occurred to me in suitable localities, and is not confined to where "reeds and other tall aquatic plants abound" (or even grow), as is described; but is found in the lower grounds about old ditch-banks, on which the sloe or blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and other shrubby plants afford a safe asylum; also on the banks of mountain rivulets at as great an elevation as the spontaneous growth of the willow or any underwood forms sufficient shelter. It likewise frequents the wooded borders of well-kept ponds, where none of the aquatic plants alluded to appear.

Although perhaps too common-place to be remarked here, it is simply from natural inclination, and not from shyness, that the sedge warbler inhabits the "tangled brake." When perched, singing on a reed, this species has admitted my approach within about three paces without ceasing its song; and I have been amused at its practice, so contrary to that of other birds, of singing only when I closely passed the bush in which it was. What may perhaps be termed its boldness, is evinced by any object flung into its haunt, prompting the bird to sing, as if in defiance of the interruption, or, as a well-known author might imagine, "to keep its courage up." The amusing song of this species is sometimes heard from its arrival until the end of July, indeed until its departure, and by night as well as by day. It is the warbler chiefly heard in summer nights, and consequently has been honoured by the flattering appellation of Irish nightingale. A bird described to me by the Rev. T. Knox, as frequenting the county of Westmeath and the vicinity of the river Shannon, is, I have little doubt, the sedge warbler. In Connemara, it is said to be common; also in the counties of Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford. With reference to the last, Mr. Poole communicates the dates of its arrival in six years to be April 22, 28, 30; May 9, 10, 15,--the departure in one year is noted 13th of August, but the young birds remained longer. The nest is also remarked to be "in brakes or bushes, rushes, &c., close over the stream or pond the bird frequents;" and the eggs as obtained on the 2nd of June. July, 4, 1846.--A sedge warbler's nest found in a

marsh at Springmount, near Clough, was placed in the midst of about half a dozen of reeds, and supported by the grass at their roots. It contained three eggs, of a dark stone colour, with a few slight streaks of a dark hue. The male bird was singing among the reeds near the nest, while the female was sitting on it."*

Mr. TEMPLETON has informed us that he "

once saw this bird in the vicinity of Belfast;" and Mr. R. J. Montgomery, that he shot a male specimen, at Raheny, near Dublin, on the 21st of December, 1843. Although a regular summer visitant to England, it appears not to have been met with in the western or northern counties; † nor to have occurred in Scotland. ‡

Is perhaps a regular summer visitant, to certain districts, but must be considered very local in Ireland.

ALTHOUGH pretty generally distributed in England, the black-cap, according to Mr. Macgillivray, is "met with sparingly in the southern districts of Scotland" (vol. ii. p. 344); and is remarked by Sir Wm. Jardine to be rather local in his "own vicinity," in Dumfries-shire, having appeared there only within the last few years (B. B. vol. ii. p. 130; 1839). Around Belfast are districts apparently well suited to this warbler, which is, however, of extremely rare occurrence. Mr. Templeton noticed it as seen at his own residence, Cranmore, on the 17th of June, 1818, and twice since. On the 1st of March, 1834, an adult male specimen was brought to a bird preserver's in Belfast by the Bishop of Down, in whose garden, within a few miles of the town, it had * J. R. Garrett. + Selby; Yarrell. Jard.; Macg.

been shot, either on that or the preceding day. These are the only instances known to me of its occurrence in the neighbourhood. When at Shane's Castle Park, on the 30th of July, 1839, accompanied by Mr. Selby and the Rev. Edw. Bigge (of Merton College, Oxford) the song of a bird which I had not before heard, attracted me; and the attention of the former gentleman being called to it, he stated it to be unquestionably that of the black-cap, with which he was quite familiar: the bird was on the south bank of the river Main, near its junction with Lough Neagh. On the following day we heard the song of another repeated for a long time in Massareene Park, on the opposite side of the lake; the bird was in underwood contiguous to a small garden. Neither songster was seen.

At

A male black-cap was shot in the first week of December, 1833, near Dublin. About the middle of May, 1844, a pair was was seen among the underwood of the Zoological Garden, Phoenix Park, where in a previous year one bird had been observed. another and distant part of this very extensive park, the black-cap has been met with in different years. Two of these birds were shot in December, 1843, (one of them on the 23rd of the month,) by Mr. R. J. Montgomery, at the Manor House, Raheny, near Dublin. At Donnybrook, too, near the metropolis, the black-cap was obtained, in the month of October, 1846; and at Rathfarnham, in the same county, one of these birds was killed in the last week of January, 1847. One, procured at the vale of Avoca, county of Wicklow, on the 23rd of May, 1837, came under my inspection in Dublin; and it was stated that a few more had been seen at the same time.

The collection of Mr. R. Davis, junr., of Clonmel, contains a black-cap killed in that neighbourhood on the 27th of December, 1834; it was, when shot, accompanied by five or six others. The late Mr. Henry Fennell of Ballibrado, county of Tipperary, met with the black-cap breeding there in different years, and procured specimens of the adult and young birds; also of the eggs. A coloured drawing of a bird shot on the 9th of October, 1830, near the town of Waterford, and kindly sent thence for my in

spection by Dr. Burkitt, represented a female or young male black-cap-on the 21st of August, 1834, one of these birds was seen by this gentleman near Dunmore, county of Waterford. One was shot on a hedge-row at the rectory of Dunmore, county of Galway, and about seven miles from Tuam, on the 1st of November, 1842. It had been observed there for the few preceding days; the specimen was kindly forwarded for my examination by the Rev. B. J. Clarke of Tuam. A female or young male black-cap, in Mr. R. Ball's collection, was found dead in his father's garden in the town of Youghal, in the second week of January, 1838. Dr. Harvey mentions in the Fauna of Cork, that he saw two of these birds in company in November, 1839, both of which were taken.·

The wintering of the black-cap in Ireland, as shown in various instances from north to south, is a singular circumstance. Being generally considered one of the latest summer birds appearing in England,* it may, I think, be fairly concluded that the occurrence of an individual on the 1st of March, at which date one was obtained near Belfast, is rather indicative of a winter residence than of an unprecedentedly early arrival. The black-cap has in a few instances been procured in England during winter.†

The bird described in Rutty's Natural History of the County of Dublin, vol. i. p. 317, as the "black-cap," is obviously not the Sylvia Atricapilla.

Seems to be extremely rare in this island.

THE following observations on this species are copied from the

* Mr. Henry Doubleday of Epping, remarks in a letter to a mutual correspondent that he has often seen the black-cap in March, and therefore looks upon it as one of the earliest summer visitants.

Yarr. B. B. vol. ii. p. 308. 2nd edit.