Mr. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 189 



ders it rare. The stomach of one which came under his in- 

 spection was, excepting a caterpillar, filled with flies and beetles. 



The Stone-Chat, Saxicola Rubicola, Bechst. — Is resident 

 and common throughout Ireland. Around Belfast it equally 

 frequents the old ditch-banks, covered with the sloe and 

 other shrubby plants, that surround the lowest-lying mea- 

 dows, and the furze, or whins, or other cover on the mountain 

 sides. In the earliest of the mild days of spring its song is 

 heard. At the end of April I have seen the parents carry 

 food to their young. My friend at Cromac has found its nests 

 both in low bushes and on the ground, but only once in the 

 latter situation. The stomach of one of these birds, sent to 

 me in December, was entirely filled with minute coleopterous 

 insects. Temminck remarks that the stone-chat is resident 

 in Africa, but in Europe is a bird of passage. 



Great Titmouse, Parus major, Linn. — This is a common 

 species in Ireland, and is resident, like all the other titmice 

 found in the country. Town plantations, as well as those in 

 the country, are frequented by this bird. I have also re- 

 marked it in districts destitute of trees, and where white- 

 thorn hedges afforded it the only shelter. Soon after the mid- 

 dle of December its song is generally commenced in the north. 

 During last winter a pair of these birds, along with two blue 

 titmice, daily visited the window-sill of a friend^s house in 

 the country, at a particular hour, when crumbs of bread were 

 left there for them. The latter species only has renewed its 

 visits in the present winter. The stomach of a Parus major, 

 examined by me at the end of March, contained some seeds 

 and the remains of coleopterous insects. 



Blue Titmouse, Parus coeruleus, Linn. — This is the most 

 common species of titmouse in Ireland. In the ordinary 

 places of resort its lively and varied attitudes have often been 

 described. In winter, whether mild or otherwise, this species 

 is very partial to the reeds fringing the river Lagan. The 

 force of one of these birds flying upon a reed sways it with a 

 graceful bend almost to the water, in which the lower portion 

 is immersed, but the bird nevertheless retains its grasp ; then 

 betaking itself to another, rapidly runs up its stem from near 

 the base to its point, and almost dips into the river again. In 



