Donegal. 581 



F. aerugindsus, Moor buzz ., a. v, v. r S. BhhOy Great-eared o\vl, a. v, v.r * 



•Strix stridula, Tawny owl, re, ra OHus, Long-eared owl, re, ra 

 flaramea. White owl, re, c 



Omnivores. 



Corvus Corax, Raven, re, c C. Pica, Magpie, re, c 



Cornix, Crow, re, c G^raculus, Red-legged crow, re, c 



frugilegus. Rook, re, c *S'turnus vulgaris. Starling, c 

 ikfonedula, Jackdaw, re, c 



Insectivores. 



T'urdus viscivorus, Missel thrush, T. itferula, Black ouzel, re, c 



re, c t Sterna Cinclus, Water ouzel, re, c 



pilaris. Fieldfare, a.p, c ikfotacilla. Reed fauvette, s.p, c J 



musicus, Throstle, re, c Sylvia, Whitethroat, s.p, c 



iliacus. Redwing, a.p, c i^ubecula, Redbreast, re, c 



torquatus, Ring ouzel, re, c yrochilus. Willow wren, s.p, c ^ 



despatch them both with his stick : thus valiantly rather yielding their 

 lives, than the prize for which they were contending j a bravery worthy of 

 a better fate. 



* Four of these birds paid us a visit for two days, after a great storm 

 from the north, when the ground was covered with snow : they have not 

 since been seen here. As I am informed that a pair of them breed in Tory 

 Island, about nine miles to the north of this coast, it is probable that they 

 came from that island. I have heard of them nowhere else. 



f These birds, on the approach of autumn, get into flocks of from 15 

 to 20 : till within the last few years they were entirely unknown in this 

 part of Ireland, where the misseltoe (Fiscum album L.) does not grow. 

 The young differ much in the plumage from the old. 



% Bee-fin, phragmite of Temminck, and sedge-warbler of Latham, not 

 ikfotacilla salicaria of Linnaeus, to which, by Bewick and other authors, 

 it has been improperly referred, and to which, with Temminck, I think it 

 does not bear the least resemblance. 1 have searched in vain for it in Dr. 

 Turton's edition of Linnaeus's Systema NaturcBy the only one to which I 

 have had an opportunity of referring ; and I am therefore disposed to think 

 that it has been unnoticed by the great father of natural history. It is 

 common in this country ; 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, it is often passed 

 unnoticed. Often have I been so deceived by its imitative strain, that, on 

 its assuming the clear note of the thrush, the harsh 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 and chiding 

 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 its gestures. 



§ In vain I have searched in this country for the three varieties of this 

 bird described by White in his Natural History of Selborne; nor have I ever 

 met with it in England or Scotland. Its song, if deserving of that name, 

 has never been properly described in our works on natural history. It 

 consists of whistling notes, which it runs through the gamut of B; thus : — 

 Px N N 



p p 3 



