1907. 239 



NESTING OF THE TREE-SPARROW IN COUNTY 



DONEGAL. 



BY ROBERT PATTERSON, F.E.S., M.R.I.A. 



The Irish Naturalist for October, 1906 (p. 221) contains an in- 

 teresting account by Nevin H. Foster, M.B.O.U., of his dis- 

 covery of the Tree-Sparrow breeding in Co. Londonderry last 

 summer. After giving a summary of our knowledge of the 

 distribution of this bird in Ireland, Mr. Foster concluded with 

 a prophecy that " a careful scrutiny, more particularly around 

 our coast, would reveal the existence of the species in many 

 other localities." It gives me much pleasure to state that this 

 prophec}^ has come true, with interesting rapidity, in another 

 part of Ulster. On the 14th June I received a telegram from 

 Mr. J. M. McWilliam, who was staying at a watering-place in 

 Co. Donegal for a few weeks ; " Have got Tree-Sparrow's nest 

 with young almost ready to leave." In a letter of June 15th, 

 Mr. McWilliam writes as follows : — " The nest was built in a 

 hole in the garden wall here, about six feet from the ground. 

 When I removed one of the stones, three of the little birds 

 flew out, and there being a very high wind, one of them got 

 over the wall and escaped. We caught the other two in the 

 nest. Another day or two and the young birds would have 

 been gone. It was the note of the old birds that first attracted 

 my attention ; quite different from the ordinary sparrows', 

 being much lower and more metallic. I saw the birds on the 

 wall within half-a-dozen yards from me, and, of course, recog- 

 nised them at once. I watched them coming and going for 

 some time, and when I went to the nest, I saw one of the 

 young birds, which had been at the entrance, running in 

 again, and could see that it was almost ready to leave." 



On the 17th June Mr. McWilliam found another pair of 

 Tree-Sparrows in a neighbour's garden, with their young 

 birds just able to fly, and on the following day he caught a 

 bird on a nest which contained four eggs. This nest was also 

 built in a hole in a high wall, about six feet from the ground, 

 and at some distance from either of the other nests. Subse- 

 quently, on the 29th June, Mr. McWilliam found a fourth nest 



