OTES 



HABITS OF BROODING-BIRDS AND NESTLINGS AT 



NIGHT. 



Regarding my note on the behaviour of nesthng Inrds at 

 night (antea, Vol. VIII., p. 144), the following additional 

 particulars nia}^ be worth recording. In 1915 I visited the 

 following nests regularly after dark : — Two Blackbirds, three 

 Song-Thrushes, three Robins, one Nightingale, one Hedge- 

 Sparrow, one Yellowhanimer, and one Chaffinch. 



I found that in the case of both Blackbirds, two Song- 

 Thrushes, the Nightingale and the Hedge-Sparrow, the 

 parent bird roosted on the nest up to the time that the 

 young flew. 



In the case of one Song-Thrush, all three Robins, the 

 Yellowhanimer and the Chaffinch, after the young were half- 

 fledged the old birds never roosted on the nest, nor near it, 

 as well as I could see. 



Regarding the curious spasmodic action of the yoimg 

 Robins described in my previous note, in 1915 I saw a similar 

 action performed in all three nests under observation, though 

 in one case it was not very marked. I also noticed it very 

 strongly in the case of the Nightingale, and in a much less 

 degree with the Chaffinch. In all the other nests the 

 behaviom' of the young birds was the same as by day. 



Maud D. Havilakd. 



TREE-SPARROW NESTING IN CO. ANTRIM. 



In July, 1915, when with the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 

 I found a colony of Tree-Sparrows (Passer montanus) breeding 

 in holes in the face of a cliff on the North Antrim coast, 

 and on visiting the place again in August some of these birds 

 were still there. With them were several House-Sparrows, 

 but the majority of this colony was composed of Tree- 

 Sparrows. The distribution of the Tree-Sparrow in Ireland 

 is, so far as known, very much restricted. For many years 

 it has been known to nest in co. Dublin, and in 1905 

 Mr. Warren recorded a colony in co. Mayo where, however, 

 it is not stated that it bred. In 1906 it was found nesting 

 in CO. Londonderry, and in the following year in co. Donegal. 

 The discovery of its breeding in co. Antrim proves an 

 interesting addition to its range in Ireland. 



Nevin H. Foster. 



