I897-] Notes. 223 



probable that \h.ty saw birds which were smaller than H. ictcrina. The 

 smaller species has a much finer song than has the larger; and I venture 

 to think that some observers who have praised the song of H. icterina 

 very highly, may, just possibly, in some instances, have had their 

 opinion formed partly by the song of its more melodious relation. But 

 this, apparently, could not occur in Holland, Germany, Norway, &c. 

 However, when, last summer, I heard H. icterina on one occasion in 

 Norway, I heard as I surmised I should {Zool., 1896, pp. 125 and 228), 

 a much better song from it than I did in North Africa. Mr. Benson 

 might have referred to this further note of mine on the subject {ZooL, 

 1896, p. 418). 



O. V. Apr.iN. 



The Birds of Rathlin and Ballycastle. 



In the July number of the Irish Naturalist, Mr. Standen, in his " Observa- 

 tions on the Fauna of Rathlin Island and Ballycastle," states "that the 

 Chiffchaff and many other warblers abound." Now these observations 

 with regard to Rathlin are quite the opposite of those of my friend, Mr. 

 R. Patterson in his exhaustive list of the " Birds of Rathlin." He men- 

 tions the " ChifFchafF as only an occasional visitor, not known to breed- 

 One was taken in an apple-tree in March, 1862. The Willow Wren is rarely 

 seen — one caught alive near the Light-house, and another found in 

 Mr. Gage's garden in April, 1867." While the Whitethroat is the only 

 warbler mentioned as a " regular summer visitor," and even the Sedge- 

 warbler is rare, according to Mr. Patterson ; and neither Mr. Patterson 

 nor Mr. Gage (in his list of the birds of Rathlin in the Proc. Dublin Nat. Hist. 

 Soc. of December, 1861), mentions the Whinchat. So it is very evident 

 that if the information received by Mr. Standen in reply to his inquiries 

 is correct, a very great increase must have taken place in the visits of 

 these warblers to Rathlin. I also wish to direct attention to the list 

 of birds breeding at Cushendun given by the Rev. Mr. Brenan to Mr. 

 Standen, in which the " Pied Flycatcher" is named, a bird so rare in 

 Ireland that its capture has very seldom been recorded. The first 

 specimen taken here at Moy View, Co. Sligo, in April, 1875, and two or 

 three others at light-houses off the coast — e.g., at the Tearaght, 

 September the 21st, and at the Fastnet October the 5th, 1886, and again at 

 the Tuskar, 28th September. 1888, recorded by Mr. R. M. Barrington. 



ROBKRT Warricn. 



*' Pled Flycatcher" in Co. Antrim : a correction. 



In my article on the *' Fauna of Ballycastle District " in the Irish 

 Naturalist for July {ante, page 174), I give the above species — on the 

 authority of Rev. vS. A. Brenan — as breeding about Cushendun. Mr. 

 Ussher having pointed out to me the extreme rarit)' of this bird in 

 Ireland, as an occasional visitor on migration, I communicated with 

 Mr. Brenan, who informs me that it is the vSpotted Flycatcher which 

 he has observed, and not the " Pied Flycatcher," as inadvertently written 

 in his list. 



R. Standex. 



