400 Mr. H. Seebohm — Notes on 



with very great interest that I learned from Mr. Ussher that 

 four pairs of Crossbills (Loocia curvirostra) were breeding in the 

 Scotch-fir plantations in his demesne. They first made their 

 appearance in the winter of 1887-88 (Ussher, Zoologist, 1888, 

 p. 189), and built a nest in a Scotch fir on the estate in 1889. 

 The nest, with four eggs and both parent birds, was sent to the 

 British Museum (Ussher, Zoologist, 1889, p. 180), and many 

 interesting observations upon the habits of the species were 

 recorded. This year they were still more common, and four 

 nests were found ; but when I arrived, on the 18th of April, 

 one of them had been robbed by a Magpie. A second nest 

 was inaccessible, but the parent birds were to be seen feeding 

 on the fir-cones. The third nest (with a red male) contained 

 four eggs, and we climbed up to it several times. The birds 

 were extraordinarily tame, and came within two or three 

 feet of us when we were at the nest. The fourth nest (with 

 a yellow male) contained two young birds, able to leave the 

 nest and to climb about on the adjacent branches on the 

 26th. We caught one of the nestlings, and examined it care- 

 fully, but could not detect any sign that the mandibles would 

 be crossed when it arrived at maturity. All four nests were 

 in Scotch firs, one close to a pigstye, and not many yards 

 from a house. Were it not for the Magpies and Hooded 

 Crows it seems probable that the Crossbills might become 

 abundant in this district. 



It is very interesting to find so many birds which we are 

 accustomed in England to regard as very rare breeding in 

 such numbers in the south of Ireland ; but there is another 

 point of view from which the ornithology of Ireland is equally 

 interesting. Many of our common English birds are con- 

 spicuous in Ireland by their absence. Although the country 

 was full of birds, we never once caught sight of a Marsh Tit 

 or a Nuthatch. The Irish distribution of the Parinse is very 

 remarkable. The Goldcrest (Regulus cristatus), the Long- 

 tailed Tit (Acredula rosea) , the Blue Tit {Parus caruleus) , the 

 Great Tit (Parus major), the Cole Tit (Parus ater), the 

 Creeper (Certhia familiaris), and the Wren (Troglodytes 

 parvulus) are as common in Ireland as they are in England; 



