26 Mr. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 



was its constant practice, as, in at least a dozen instances it was 

 so observed; but the chaffinch eventually discovering the regu- 

 lus in the act, gave it a severe chase through the plantation, 

 and its mal-practices were never afterwards known to be re- 

 peated. Of two nests of which I have notes, neither was 

 domed ; one was neatly fixed to the branch of a silver fir, 

 whose foliage shaded its little opening of one inch diameter ; 

 and the other was placed in a laurustinus, the larger leaves of 

 which afforded more efficient protection. 



Soon after the young can provide for themselves, they and 

 their parents flit about in company, and ring their little changes 

 throughout every plantation. In the first autumns that they 

 thus came under my observation, I, from hearing them simul- 

 taneously everywhere around Belfast, was rather disposed to 

 believe in a migration from the north, (vide Selby's 111. Brit. 

 Orn., vol. i. p. 230, 2nd ed.,) but having subsequently heard 

 them in different years so early as the month of August, I now 

 consider that it is our indigenous birds alone that by constantly 

 uttering their little cries thus attract attention. 



The gold-crested regulus seems not to me the hardy bird 

 that authors generally imagine. In the north of Ireland it 

 has been frequently found dead in severe weather, and even 

 after slight frosts*. Early in the winter of 1835 a friend 

 brought me three of these birds, that had been captured by 

 a cat in a small garden, in a very populous part of Belfast, 

 and on the preceding day four or five had in the same place 

 shared a similar fate. 



Of three stomachs of the regulus which have come under 

 my inspection in the months of December and January, two 

 were entirely filled with insects, among which some Coleoptera 

 were apparent ; and the third contained, in addition to frag- 

 ments of stone, only seeds, of which there were two or three 

 kinds. 



[To be continued.] 



* In a note to White's Selborne (p. 180, ed. 1837), Mr. Herbert gives 

 instances of the fatal effect of cold on caged individuals. 



