VOL. vii] TREE-SPARROW IN IRELAND. 45 



The new colonies which I now refer to were discovered 

 (a) in the west, Belmullet, co. Mayo, in 1905 ; (b) in 

 the north, coasts of Derry, 1906, and Donegal, 1907. 

 The birds discovered at Belmullet formed a colon}^, 

 as did those found on co. Donegal coast ; only one pair 

 is recorded as seen on co. Derry coast ; these may Hkely 

 have been an offshoot of the Donegal birds. The account 

 of the discovery of the colony at Belmullet is mentioned 

 in a short note by Mr. Warren.* No details 8.re given : 

 he only states that '' an esteemed correspondent from 

 Belmullet " discovered the colony, and on February 10th 

 sent him a good specimen for identification. The birds 

 Avhich nested in co. Derry were discovered by Mr. Nevin 

 H. Foster on August 16th, 1906.^ In his interesting 

 article he tells us this pair bred in a Sand-Martin's nesting- 

 hole " situated near the top of an almost perpendicular 

 cHff composed for about 60 to 70 feet from sea-level 

 of rudely columnar basalt ..." The birds in the 

 colony discovered on the co. Donegal coast built 

 their nests in holes in garden-walls about six feet from 

 the ground. The discoverer, Mr. J. W. McWilUam, 

 made the matter known to Mr. Robert Patterson on 

 June 14th, 1907. The latter, in his interesting paper, J 

 suggests that it is hardly " possible that these Tree- 

 Sparrows can have been in the district for any length 

 of time, because Mr. McWilUam, who is a close and 

 accurate observer, has stayed in the vicinity for several 

 summers in succession, and although he has kept a careful 

 watch on all the Sparrows he has met, he never suspected 

 the presence of Tree-Sparrows until he discovered the 

 first nest on June 14th." Had this statement ended 

 here I see no reason to comment : when however we read 

 further, '' Undoubtedly it was Mr. Foster's discovery 



* " Tree-Sparrow in Belmullet, Co. Mayo." Robert Warren, Irish 

 Naturalist, March, 1905, p. 72. 



t "On the Nesting of the Tree-Sparrow in Co. Derry." Nevin 

 H. Foster, Irish Naturalist, October, 1906, pp. 221-23. 



X " Nesting of the Tree-Sparrow in Co. Donegal." Robert Patterson,. 

 Irish Naturalist, August, 1907, pp. 239-40. 



