i^o The Irish Xaturalist, 



BIRDS. 



Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) breedingr in Co. Armagh.— 



Mr. Georgx? D. Bexesibni, of Castle Dillon, Armagh, iufonus me that he 

 has on the 2Slh March seen a pair of mature Crossbills captannl near 

 Castle Dillon, by a boy, who on the 6th March found their nest containing 

 four voung onek covered with down of a dark-grey colour < characteristic 

 of the unhedged nestling Crossbill". He put them into a cage, on which 



plentiful here* at Cappagh firom 1SS9 to 1S92, have now become ver\- 

 scarce. — R- J. Ussher, Cappagh, Co. Wateiford. 



[We hope naturalists will discourage the useless slaughter and capture 

 of these most interesting birds, which would breed freely with us if un- 

 disturbed. — E DS-~ 



Early Arrivals. — The Chiff-Chaff iPkyllasi-iiifMs cellybUa) was noted st 

 Comragh in this county on the 19th March. I heard one on the 2Qth, 

 and at Michelstown. Co. Cork, one was noted on the 21st. 



A Swallow {H. nts^!\-a) was seen at Comragh on the 19th March, and up 

 to the 30th it has been still observed there daily Sying about the yard. 

 etc, though only the one bird has as yet appeared- — R. J. Usshek. 

 Cappagh. 



In Land cutd irai^r for April isu the Chiff-Chait is recorded as having 

 been heard in the Downs, Wicklow, on March ajrd, and in Tyrone ou 

 the 2r±. 



Abundance of Wild Swans in Mayo. 1832-3.— I subjoin an 

 extract on this subject Erora a Iciier I have received from Dr. Burk:::. 

 late of Waterford. now in his eighty-sixth year, residing at Beliuul-L,. 

 He was the correspondent of Yarrell and Thompson, and collected birds 

 at Waterford since iS3a where among the number of specimens that he 

 preserved were the Waterford Great Auk. given by him to Trinity College 

 Museum, the Gold- vented Thrush, and the South African Eagle-Owl, all 

 obtained bv him in the nesh from the locality. Of late years he has 

 added to the Irish list the Barred Warbler, which he obtained at Bel- 

 mullet, in September, 1SS4- This with a County Waterford specimen of 

 Baillon's Crake he has given to the Science and Art Museum. — R. J. 



USSHER- 



"I had intended mentioning to you as an astonishing fact the un- 

 precedented migration of swans during the winter 1S92 to this district. 

 This last winter has been mild, little or no frost or snow, but murky. 

 fo«^v. wet or stormy, a damp miserable season, elsewhere reported as 

 about the most intensely cold and severe winter on record- From about 

 the middle of November swans appeared, frx>m time to time, to visit this 

 district *the Mullet , until the second week in February, in enormous 

 numbers, ^im Outumwis reported. Generally swans visit the Mullet in 

 winter, in detached bodies of five, six, eight, or so, amounting to the 

 total number of fifty to a hundred during the winter, but this season 

 on the lake of Cross,' about three miles from this, upwards of a thousand 

 were seen together ^most daily, for weeks in December and January-. 

 and some used occasionally to fly from it to a smaller lake about tw<:> 

 miles fixwn this, Turmon Carra, and if disturbed there go back again to 

 Cross. This Turmon Carra, although a very small piece of water, was 

 alwavs a favourite resting-place for ducks, g,^^^^, and swans in hard 

 weather, when they migrate to this district. 



'• The vast majority of these swans were C. bctcvcl-i. This bird has the 

 receptacle in the sternum for the windpipe as the Whooper has, but not 

 nearlv so large nor deep. Mr. Moran shot one on February 6th, a young 

 bird, some grevish feathers being on the head. Is was in fine condition 

 being verv fet-— Robert J. Burkitt." 



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