Ii8 The bish Nahiralist. [May, 



down upon her. Once again at Karlsbad, in 1893, we heard, 

 but very rarely, the same curious and very striking notes, but 

 neither at Kissingen nor at Karlsbad did we hear anything 

 like the lovely song that gladdened our ears at the Hague. 



Now it is very remarkable that Mr. O. V. Aplin, in his 

 interesting paper on the song of this "bird in Africa,^ states 

 that he never heard there this sweet and wonderful song ; he 

 re-echoes Mr. Seebohm's description, " it screamed, it warbled 

 and chuckled voluminously," and this well represents what I 

 heard at Kissingen and Karlsbad, but falls verj^ far short of 

 my experience in Holland. 



On the other hand, my friend, the late Mr. J. G. Rathborne, 

 who shot the only specimen of this bird obtained in Ireland, 

 assured me that he was attracted by its splendid song, which 

 was quite new to him, and that he watched it in his grounds at 

 Dunsinea, near the Observatory at Dunsink, as it rose up from 

 the willow trees, after the manner of fly-catchers, and returned 

 singing to the branch again. 



On 29th May, 1886, as mentioned in the Zoologist for that 

 year, Mr. (now the Rev.) Allan BHison, an excellent observer, 

 believed that he saw and heard this bird in the famous w^oods 

 of CooUattin, Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow. He sa3'S : — 



*' Its song be^an with a few rather harsh strains, but in general it was 

 quite delightful, far surpassing in charm and melody any song I have 

 ever heard. But for its song I could have hardly distinguished it from 

 our Willow Warbler, but it was of a more decided yellow colour, and had 

 a longer tail. After watching the bird for about half an hour I passed on, 

 but on returning to the same spot an hour afterwards I could see or hear 

 nothing of it, nor have I ever met it since." 



On hearing from Mr. Ellison, I hurried down to Shillelagh 

 but found that alas ! the bird had flown. 



In the same month of May, Mr. Murray A. Matthew, Stone 



Hall, Pembrokeshire, heard this bird apparently, in South 



Wales. He writes to the Zoologist as follows : — 



*' Early in May I heard the notes of a bird that were quite new to me in 

 our shrubberies ; since then he has taken up his station in an ash tree 

 just outside our grounds, and sings a most delicious song all dtiy to the 

 delight of passers-b3% who return again and again to listen to his melody. 

 The notes are very sweet and liquid, imitating some of the trills of the 

 Song Thrush. Seen high up through the foliage he looks like a Chiff- 

 Chaff, but when be descends he seems darker about the wings, his breast 



^ Zoologist, May, 1896. 



