18 Mr. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 



during spring and summer," (Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 405, 

 New Series,) which observation I know, from having access to 

 his MS., applies to the neighbourhood of Belfast. Here there 

 is not an Irish-killed specimen of the bird preserved, owing 



perhaps as much to the gun not being used during the time 

 of its sojourn in this country as to the difficulty of procuring 



individuals; nor have I anywhere had the opportunity of ex- 

 amining a native specimen. By several ornithological friends 

 as well as myself, a warbler has in the north occasionally been 

 seen, and more frequently heard, whose note agrees with the 

 peculiar one of this species. About Killaloe, county Clare, the 

 Rev. Thomas Knox has partially seen and has heard a bird 

 the note and habits of which correspond with those of the 

 grasshopper warbler, but a specimen of it has not been ob- 

 tained by him. 



The Sedge Warbler, Sylvia Phragmitis, Bechst., — Is 

 a regular summer visitant to Ireland. It is generally ob- 

 served around Belfast within the first ten days of May, but 

 in 1836 one was seen on the 16th of April. The 5th of Sep- 

 tember is the latest date on which I am aware of its being no- 

 ticed, but further observation may possibly show that it re- 

 mains until a later period, as it does in England. (Selby's 111. 

 Brit. Orn., vol. i. p. 202.) The migration of the sedge warbler 

 extends to the extreme north-west of Ireland, where on July 

 1, 1832, I heard and saw one near Dunfanaghy ; and Mr. 

 Stewart, in his Catalogue of the Birds, &c. of Donegal, ob- 

 serves that it is common. Throughout the northern counties 

 generally it has occurred to me in suitable localities ; these are 

 not confined to where " reeds and other tall aquatic plants " 

 abound, or even grow, as is generally described, but it is 

 found in the lower grounds about old ditches, on which the 

 sloe or blackthorn (Primus spi?iosa) and other shrubby plants 

 afford it a safe asylum ; also on the banks of mountain rivulets 

 at as great an elevation as the spontaneous growth of the wil- 

 low or any underwood forms sufficient shelter ; and it likewise 

 frequents the wooded borders of well-kept ponds, where none 

 of the aquatic plants alluded to appear. 



It is perhaps too common-place to be remarked here, that 

 it is simply from natural inclination and not from shyness that 



