96 DXTBLIlf NATUEAl mSTORY SOCIETY. 



abound in thickets— the low bushes on the Donnybrook road, near Wellington 

 road, are a favourite station for them, as also the lowlands about Tallaght and 

 Crumlin. Later in the season their song may be heard in great perfection at 

 Lough Bray, and in the valley of the Dodder, part of which, Glen-as-Moil, gets 

 its name from the numbers of them found in it — they cease singing about the 

 third week in June. The weather that seems most congenial to them is soft, 

 open mornings, though they may be heard singing sweetly during frost. They 

 are our most beautiful night singers, and I have often heard them. One instance I 

 will transfer from my note- book : — "March 5, 1852; moon very bright, though the 

 night was misty and soft, the thrushes (M. musica) were singing as sweetly as 

 though it were morning." The next member of the group, the blackbird (M. 

 "'&•**). generally begins his song in November, though sometimes he may be 

 heard even as early as September. He is never so regular a songster as the 

 thrush; be ceases about the same time. Though a very common bird, the pecu- 

 liar charms of his song are known but to few, for, though of far less compass and 

 fewer notes than that of M. musica, it far surpasses it in plaintive mellowness. 

 Indeed, we have no word in the English language which can convey a notion of 

 it ; that usually adopted, viz. whistling, giving about as much idea of it as it does 

 of the sound of the trumpet. The thrush's note may surpass it in power, but 

 there is a melody in the blackbird's song much more pleasing than all the po- 

 lished execution of its rival's elaborate strain. To hear it in perfection you 

 should hear it in early spring, on a calm, misty, soft morning, or, better still, 

 in early summer, in that stillness which precedes or else follows a summer thun- 

 der storm, when the skies are black with lowering clouds, all things else silent, 

 except, perchance, the chirping of frightened sparrows in a neighbouring hedge, 

 then may the blackbird's song be heard, like some good spirit's voice, breaking 

 the solemn silence, and bidding us not despair, for that though the storm may 

 rage, it cannot utterly destroy. As far as my observations go, it invariably sings 

 from an elevation, and in spring its song is generally the precursor of wet ; it 

 sings at first only in the morning or midday, but about February or the begin- 

 ning of March, may be heard singing in the evening. Our other native thrush 

 (M. viscivora) is not a regular resident in Donnybrook. I can, therefore, only 

 state that I have heard him in January, February, and March, singing his un- 

 musical song in the tops of the tallest poplars. The water ouzel (Cinclus aqua- 

 ticus) is not found about Donnybrook. 1 have heard it singing, however, in the 

 valley of the Dodder, about Bohernabreena, during every month but July ; they 

 always, I believe, sing perched on a stone, with quivering wings — it is a night 

 warbler; the song is soft, low, and pleasing. The titlark (Anthus pratensis) 

 is the next bird which comes before us, and is truly a summer songster. Its song 

 is hardly ever commenced earlier than the second week in February, and ends 

 before the end of July. The song, which is short, is uttered on wing; the bird, 

 rising from the ground after the manner of the common lark, takes a short cir- 

 cular flight, and concludes its song on some tree or other elevated position — it 

 occasionally sings on the top of some high tree. You seldom hear this bird in 

 early spring, unless the day be soft and open, though it may sometimes be heard 

 singing even in raw, frosty mornings. This season (1853) was a most unpropi- 

 tious one, at the period when the bird generally commences, and I do not find 

 him in my notes until March. As the season advances, frost does not exercise 

 much influence on his song, a remark which applies to songsters in general ; the 

 females of this bird sing, as I have proved by actual dissection ; it rarely sings 

 on the ground. The next group we shall consider, the buntings, contains three 

 species, viz., E. miliaria, citrinella, and schoeniculus. Their songs very much 

 resemble one another in character. That of the common bunting is the most 

 varied and powerful ; it has been not unaptly compared to a bunch of keys 

 drawn rapidly round a notched ring. It may be heard, with very little intermis- 

 sion, from the beginning of February till the end of August. This bird sings at 

 all times of the day, but particularly during the bright hours of noon. The song 

 is always delivered from a slightly elevated position, such as the tall stems of 



