19 1 7- Moffat — Exterminating Winter : Effects on Bird-life. 95 



had been drifting about since the 21st of March do 

 not appear to have thought of starting breeding opera- 

 tions ; and though the later arrivals are clearly pre- 

 pared for matrimony, their small numbers augur badly, 

 I am afraid, for the hopes of a successful season. 

 The Cuckoo, in this part of Ireland, almost invariably 

 lays on the " Titlark " the burden of rearing her young. 

 This means, for each female Cuckoo, the destruction 

 of the lawful broods of from live to eight pairs of Tit- 

 larks ; and this annual sacrifice is, in most years, quite 

 compatible with the maintenance of the full numbers 

 of the duped species, owing to its being so much more 

 numerous than its artful enemy. This year, the conditions 

 are reversed ; the supply of " Cuckoo's Nurses " will 

 apparently fall far short of the demand, and the chance 

 of any young " Titlarks " being successfully reared in the 

 district is poor indeed. 



As to our fifth missing species, the Long-tailed Titmouse, 

 it has no recognised status as a migrant, and I can only 

 hope that in some other parts of Ireland, where the winter 

 has been kinder, it may increase and multiply until 

 economic causes dictate its resettlement in the districts 

 lately cleared of its presence.^ The large broods often 

 reared by this species encourage the hope that it may 

 soon spread back to us. 



That man}^ other birds besides the six I have mentioned 

 had their numbers sorely reduced is, of course, beyond 

 question ; but there were, in this district, some striking 

 exceptions — birds that, so far as I could see, suffered 

 no loss at all. Among these figure, as might be expected, 

 our three peculiarly Irish sub-specific forms, the native 

 Dipper (Cinclns cinclus hihernicus), Coal Titmouse {Parus 

 ater hihernicus), and Jay (Garrulus glandarius hiberniciis). 

 These insular and non-migratory races could hardly have 

 maintained themselves for the long time that must have 



1 Since writing as above I have received from Miss Cooper, of Killanne 

 Rectory, the welcome information that a pair of Long-tailed Titmice were 

 seen by her within the Rectory grounds about the r3th of May. INIiss 

 Cooper also believes that some Grey Wagtails lived through the winter 

 at Killanne, where they must have enjoyed the benefit of exceptionally 

 favourable surroundings. 



