[ 185 ] 



THE BREEDING OF THE GARDEN WARBI^ER IN 

 THE SHANNON VALLEY. 



BY R. J. USSHKR. 



It is an experience of high interest to the ornithologist when 

 he first makes acquaintance with a vSpecies new to him, 

 especially if he finds it in haunts previously unrecorded in his 

 native country. 



Thompson's correspondents found the Garden Warbler (^Syl- 

 via hortensis, Bechst.) in Antrim, at Ballybrado, in the south 

 of Tipperary, and near Cork. The late Sir Victor Brooke ob- 

 served several pairs frequenting the natural woods at Castle 

 Caldwell on lower Lough Erne, where, as Mr. J. C. Bloomfield 

 informs me, he is well acquainted with these birds, and ob- 

 served them last spring. 



I first heard the song of the Garden Warbler on one of the 

 naturall}^ wooded ivSlands of Lough Enie, on 9th June, 1891. 

 I again heard the song on 7th June, 1892, uttered from a 

 thicket of blackthorn on Nun's Island in the centre of Lough 

 Ree, and caught a glimpse of the bird, but failed to get 

 a shot at it. My further acquaintance with it is due to 

 Mr. Anthony Parker of Castle Lough, whose beautiful 

 demesne, on the Tipperary side of Lough Derg near Killaloe, 

 contains many vestiges of natural wood. He sent me, on the 

 loth May last, for determination, a fine male Garden Warbler 

 shot there, which is now destined for the Science and Art 

 Museum. He subsequently discovered the nest of another 

 pair, which on the 26th May I had the pleasure of seeing. It 

 was in a secluded corner of his grounds, but not far from 

 the house and approach, and was placed in a mass of loose 

 briars about two or three feet from the ground, a few trees, 

 saplings, and elder bushes standing round. It was composed 

 of dried stems of grasses and other plants, and lined with a 

 few root-fibres and hairs. It contained five eggs in the first 

 stage of incubation. I saw the female quit it, and soon dis- 

 cerned her threading her way through neighbouring bushes, 

 uttering her warning note, which consists of the repetition of 

 a sound not unlike the slow winding of a clock. To obtain 

 full proof of the species, I shot this bird after seeing her leave 

 the nest, and she also is in the hands of Messrs. Williams & Son. 

 Before approaching the nest I heard in its vicinity the song of 



