Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 407 



this will not apply to Ireland. In many of the artificially wood- 

 ed districts, it is either not to be found at all, or is only known 

 as an occasional visitant ; but where any extent of indigenous 

 or natural wood remains, and there is sufficient growth of the 

 more shrubby trees, the bullfinch may be looked for almost 

 with certainty. In some picturesque and extensive glens in 

 the county of Antrim and near Belfast, this bird was common 

 so long as the hazel and holly of natural growth maintained 

 their ground, but as these were swept away, the bullfinch 

 deserted such localities as abodes, and "few and far between" 

 are now even its temporary visits. In the neighbouring county 

 of Down, this bird finds a home in sequestered situations 

 where the hazel predominates, and in this shrubby tree com- 

 monly nestles. In "nature^s wild domain/' the bullfinch looks 

 eminently beautiful, and can be admired without the alloy as- 

 sociated with its appearance in the garden or the orchard, 

 where it proves so destructive. Its call-note and song have 

 generally met with little admiration from the historians of 

 the species, but being sweetly plaintive, are to me extremely 

 pleasing. 



Small seeds were the only food in the stomachs of a few 

 bullfinches which came under my observation in winter. 



Mr. Selby (in his tf Illustrations of British Ornithology ' and 

 the * Naturalist*) and Mr. Knapp, give very interesting ac- 

 counts of the bullfinch from personal observation, and parti- 

 cularly with reference to the plants which it attacks. 



Pine Bullfinch, Pyrrhula Enucleator,Temm. — See An- 

 nals, vol. vii. p. 478. 



Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, Linn. — This bird has long- 

 been known as an occasional visitant to Ireland. In Harrises 

 ( History of the County of Down 5 (1774), it is remarked of 

 crossbills, that ** many of them were seen at Waringstown in 

 1707." Smith, in his '■ History of Cork 5 (1749), observes, that 

 H these birds have been seen in this county, but are rare." 

 Rutty, in his ' Natural History of Dublin 3 (1772), says of the 

 crossbill — " it has been seen at Ireland's Eye, and we have had 

 several flights of them to the counties of Wicklow and Dublin, 

 particularly in 1714." Mr. R. Ball informs me, that during his 

 residence at Youghal, this species was known to him as occur- 

 ring but once in the south, upwards of thirty years ago, when 

 it committed great devastation in the orchards : its appear- 

 ance in the south of the county of Cork, about twenty-nine or 

 thirty years ago, has been reported to me by others, who state 

 that it was looked upon as an extraordinary rarity — probably 

 the same flight of birds is alluded to by all. Mr. Ensor, in an 

 article contributed to the 6th vol. of the i Magazine of Natural 



