582 Natural History in Ireland : — 



M. i?^gulus. Golden-crested wren, M. modularis,Winter fauvette,|se,c 

 re, c alba, Pied wagtail, re, c 



Troglodytes, wren, re, c Boarula, Grey wagtail, re, c 



CEnanthe, White rump, s p, c* flava. Yellow wagtail, re, o 



Rubetra, Whinchat, s.p, c ^lauda pratensis. Titlark, re, cj- 

 Rubicola, Stonechat, re, c campestris, Field lark, re, c 



Granivores. 



i^lauda arvensis. Skylark, re, c E. Jilliaria, Bunting, re, c 



Parus major. Greater titmouse, s.p, c ^Schoeniculus, Black-headed 



ater. Cole titmouse, re, ra Bunting, re, c 



caeruleus. Blue titmouse, re, c nivalis. Snow bunting, a.v, ra 



caudatus, Long- tailed titmouse, L6xia Pyrrhula, Bullfinch, re, ra 



re, v.r Coccothraustes, Grosbeak, a.v, 



Emberiza Citrinella, Yellow bunting, v.r, % 



re, c Chloris, Green grosbeak, s.p, c 



comprising ten notes : the latter ones are very soft, and run into each 

 other : and though it would thus appear anxious to be well grounded in the 

 principles of music, by thoroughly and constantly practising the gamut, 

 like a true musician, yet it never arrives at greater musical perfection ; and 

 its notes, though soft and melodious, are not sufficiently diversified to 

 merit the name of song. 



* The old wheatears, which are among our first spring visitants, take their 

 departure from this place soon after the. young ones can provide for them- 

 selves : this may account for what White mentions, their being found about 

 this period, in great numbers, on the downs in Sussex, where, until then, 

 they are scarcely met with. The young ones which remain a month or 

 six weeks longer, are very different from the old ones, at this age, in their 

 - plumage. 



f Temminck, under pipit, very properly separates pratensis and cam- 



Eestris from the family ^lauda of Linnaeus, under which they should never 

 ave been ranked ; as, in their habits, food, and form of bill, they much 

 more nearly approach the wagtail. According to this arrangement, they 

 form a very natural link of connection between ikfotacilla and ^lauda, to 

 the latter of which, in some points, they bear a resemblance. 



ij: I shot a pair of these birds a few days ago, in fine plumage ; the first 

 instance, I believe, of their occurring in Ireland. Their strength of beak 

 as compared with the size of the bird, is quite wonderful : it results from 

 very strong and large muscles, which, extending on either side from the 

 eye to the occiput [hind-head], reach from the lower mandible to the top 

 of the cranium, where they meet ; they are separated from the eyes by 

 deep bony ridges, to which they are firmly attached. By contracting these 

 muscles, which are thus so firmly attached to the skull, it exerts such a 

 force as enables it to crack, with its hard and strong bill, the thick stone of 

 the hawthorn berry, an operation requiring a strong exertion of the 

 human jaw. On dissection, I found one of these stones thus cracked in 

 one of their stomachs, with the fresh kernel still in one half of the shell. 

 A few hours after they were dead, I took a strong pair of scissors and 

 a knife, using them as levers to force open their bills, and found the 

 muscles had so firmly contracted, that, to effect my purpose, I had to use 

 a wedge ; a forcible proof, it will be allowed, of their strength. Their 

 bills alone, however, are formed as a pair of mit-crackers, as the muscles of 

 the neck, unlike those^f the woodpeckers, are not strong. Not so with the 

 wings, which are furnished with such strong muscles, that they could almost 

 vie with the pigeon in strength and rapidity of flight. They would, there- 

 fore, unlike many of our birds of passage, be well calculated for distant 

 migrations. 



