398 Mr. H. Seebohm— Notes on 



as at Cappagh, in county Waterford, where I spent a week at 

 the end of April last, enjoying the hospitality of R. I. Ussher, 

 Esq., the well-known ornithologist of the south-east of 

 Ireland. 



Among the commoner birds here may be mentioned the 

 Goatsucker (Caprimulgus europeus), the Grasshopper Warbler 

 (Locustella ntsvia), the Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) , and 

 the Twite (Lino t a fiavirostris). 



There are very few demesnes in the county of Waterford 

 where the Woodcock (Scolopaoe rusticula) does not regularly 

 breed, and where it may not be constantly seen and heard 

 shortly before dusk flying from its nest to its feeding- grounds. 

 It seems to be the general opinion in the south of Ireland 

 that these breeding birds are migratory, and disappear at least 

 a month before the winter flocks of Woodcock arrive. Unfor- 

 tunately we have no information respecting the date of their 

 arrival in Brittany, where, according to Degland and Gerbe, 

 they are very common in autumn. On Heligoland the autumn 

 migration does not begin until the end of September, is at 

 its height in the middle of October, and ceases before the 

 end of November. 



Siskins (Chrysomitris spinus) breed regularly in the south of 

 Ireland, and Mr. Ussher has frequently seen them on his 

 estate, but he has but once succeeded in finding the nest. 

 He has a beautiful nest in his collection, taken in the ex- 

 treme south of county Wicklow by Mr. Allan Ellison, who 

 has written a most interesting account of the breeding- 

 habits of this species as observed by him in the south of 

 Ireland (Ellison, Zoologist, 1887, p. 338), and who sent the nest 

 and eggs, together with both the parent birds, to the British 

 Museum, where they form one of the most interesting cases 

 in the unrivalled collections of these objects which attract so 

 much attention from the visitors to South Kensington. 



There are no less than a dozen pairs of Peregrines (Falco 

 peregrinus) breeding within an easy day's drive of Cappagh. 

 Fortunately for ornithology (and the Peregrines) these 

 breeding-places are inaccessible to the casual egg-collector. 

 Most of them are on the coast, and the bird can only lie 



