August, 1897.] 20I 



A BIvACKBIRD'S NEST. 



BY JAMES STKI^FOX 



[Plate I.] 



A Br.ACKBiRD lias recently built her nest on a shelf against the 

 wall of my small lean-to greenhouse in Ormeau Park, Belfast, 

 and has, up to the end of May, laid three eggs. My gardener is 

 working there for some time daily, and goes in and out with- 

 out in the slightest degree interfering with her engagements. 

 One day I got Mr. R. Welch to photograph her, and he 

 succeeded in obtaining two beautiful negatives. The bird 

 showed no signs of fear, and permitted all the manipulations 

 of the photographer without movement, though the lens was 

 only about three feet from the nest, and wound up by sub- 

 mitting to a couple of 20-second exposures with a steadiness 

 which the accompanying plate will best indicate. The next day 

 she wis quite at honi3, and apparently pleased to see friends. 

 Surely this is remarkable conduct on the part of a Blackbird. 



A BOG-BURST SEVEN YEARS AFTER. 



BY R. I,I,OYD PRAEGER, B.E. 



Last June, while enjoj^ing the hospitality of Sir Henry Burke 



at Marble Hill, beyond Loughrea, I had an opportunity of 



examining the scene of the bog-burst that occurred in that 



neighbourhood in January, 1890. A report on the occurrence 



was made to the Board of Works by Mr. A. T. Pentland a 



few months after, and an abstract of that report will be found 



in my recent Paper on bog-bursts in this Journal (p. 157) In 



view^ of the various opinions which have been given as to the 



ultimate effects of the Kerry bog-burst both on the bog which 



gave way and on the land which was submerged, a brief 



account of the present state of the site of the Loughatorick 



slide, now that seven years have elapsed since the outbreak, 



may be of interest. 



A 



