Mr. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 19 



the sedge warbler inhabits the * tangled brake." When 

 perched singing on a reed it has admitted my approach 

 within about three paces without ceasing its song ; and what 

 might perhaps be termed its boldness, is evinced by any ob- 

 ject flung into its haunt prompting it to sing, as if in defiance 

 of the interruption, or, as a certain author would imagine, 

 " to keep its courage up." The well-known and. most amusing 

 song of this species is sometimes heard from its arrival until 

 the end of July. 



A bird described to me by the Rev. T. Knox as frequenting 

 the county of Westmeath and the vicinity of the river Shan- 

 non, is I have little doubt the sedge warbler. 



Blackcap Warbler, Sylvia Alricapilla, Lath. — Mr. 

 Templeton remarks that the blackcap was seen at Cranmore, 

 his residence, near Belfast, on the 17th of June 1818, and twice 

 since that time. A male bird shot near Dublin in the first 

 week of December 1833, was forwarded to my friend Robert 

 Ball, Esq., before the vital heat had fled. On March 1, 1834, 

 I saw a recent specimen of this bird, an adult male, which was 

 brought to be set up at a bird-preserver's in Belfast by the 

 Bishop of Down, in whose garden, within a few miles of 

 the town, it had been shot either on that or the preceding day. 

 Mr. Robert Davis, jun., of Clonmel, county Tipperary, informs 

 me that in his collection there is one which was killed in that 

 neighbourhood on Dec. 27 3 1834, and which was stated by 

 the person who shot it to have been accompanied by five or 

 six others. By Mr. W. S. Hall, bird-preserver, Dublin, a 

 specimen was shown me which was killed at the Vale of Avoca, 

 county Wicklow, on May 23, 1837> and a few more were 

 seen at the same time. 



The blackcap does not, so far as I can learn, appear annually 

 in any part of Ireland. A drawing taken a few years ago 

 from a bird so rare in one of the most southern counties as to 

 be unknown to a scientific collector, was submitted for my 

 opinion, and represented a female* of this species. It is sin- 



* Judging from Temminck's description in the 1st part of his 'Manuel': 

 in the 3rd. part, since published, he adds, that the young males resemble 

 the female, the red colour of the top of the head being only less decided* 



c 2 



