586 Mr. H. Seebohm on Irish Birds. 



The last example has been sent to me for examination, 

 and proves to be a bird of the year. 



The Red-breasted Flycatcher has twelve tail-feathers — 

 four on each side with deep white bases, and four in the 

 middle plain brown, with a narrow margin of white on the 

 outer margin of the basal half of the two outer ones. 



Alauda brachydactyla. 



Mr. Barrington has sent me for examination an example 

 of the Short-toed Lark which was caught at the Black Rock 

 Lighthouse, in Co. Mayo, on the 11th of October, 1890 

 (Barrington, 'Zoologist,' 1891, p. 186). It is the first 

 example recorded from Ireland, though there are half a 

 dozen English records which appear to be authentic. 



The Irish example appears to be an adult bird, and has 

 the long tertials reaching nearly as far as the primaries, 

 which are so characteristic of the species, and serve to 

 distinguish it from its ally Alauda pispoletta. It is possible 

 that some of the English records may refer to the latter 

 species, inasmuch as the woodcut in the various editions of 

 YarrelFs ' British Birds ' appears to have been made from an 

 example of Alauda pispoletta. This is all the more curious as 

 it is expressly stated in the text of the third edition that in the 

 specimen described (which was caught in a net near Shrews- 

 bury on the 25th of October, 1841) the tertials extend 

 backwards as far as the end of the closed wing. 



Sylvia curruca. 



Although the Lesser Whitethroat has the most extensive 

 range of any species of Sylvia, breeding in the Palaearctic 

 Region from the Atlantic to the Pacific, subject to some 

 slight variation in the wing-formula of the eastern race, 

 there is no authentic record of its ever having bred in 

 Ireland. The only evidence of its having visited the sister 

 isle is an example which appears to be an adult bird, and 

 which was caught at the lighthouse on the Tearaght Rock, 

 off the coast of Co. Kerry on the 1st of October, 1890 

 (Barrington, 'Zoologist,' 1891, p. 186). 



The Irish example belongs to the western race, the second 



