492 Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 



Sackville Street, Dublin, I have seen the jackdaw alight, and impart 

 an air of the ludicrous to the hero of Trafalgar. But under similar 

 circumstances, this bird would not scruple to perch even 

 '• On the bald first Caesar's head*." 



Three jackdaws, entirely white, were reared in a chimney in Bel- 

 fast a few years ago, and about the same time two of a similar colour 

 were brought up in a demesne in the neighbourhood ; here they 

 were observed by a friend associating, both in feeding and on wing, 

 with their sable brethren, who acknowledged them as kindred. On 

 account of their colour, they were unfortunately persecuted to the 

 death, when they proved to be perfect albinoes, the bill and legs, as 

 well as the plumage, being white ; their hoary moustaches gave 

 them a most venerable appearance, though in reality they were birds 

 of the year. 



On the '29th June 1835, I saw many jackdaws about the fissures 

 of the lofty chalk- cliffs rising above the river Derwent, near Mat- 

 lock in Derbyshire, where it was presumed they nestled, and the 

 next evening heard their call there so late as ten o'clock, which 

 tended to confirm the conjecture. In the Morea and the Archi- 

 pelago, late in the spring and in the summer of 1841, I observed 

 jackdaws equally numerous, and in localities similar to those at 

 home, such as about the ruins of the old castle at Patras, the high 

 western cliffs of the island of Sphacteria (the scene of Byron's Cor- 

 sair), and on a rocky islet, lying to the north-east of the entrance to 

 Port Nousa, in the island of Paros. 



The Magpie, Corvus Pica, Linn., has long been common 

 throughout the island, but, according to several authors, was 

 unknown down to a certain period. Smith, in his ' History 

 of the county of Cork,^ published in 1749, remarks, that it 

 " was not known in Ireland seventy years ago, but is now 

 very common ;" and Rutty, in his 'Natural History of Dubhn,' 

 observes, that " it is a foreigner, naturalized here since the 

 latter end of King James the Second's reign, and is said to 

 have been driven hither by a strong wind." (!) Dean Swift 

 thus alludes to it in his ' Journal to Stella' : — " Pray observe 

 the inhabitants about Wexford; they are old English; see 

 what they have particular in their manners, name and lan- 

 guage. Magpies have been always there, and nowhere else 



• The followhig note is contributed by my ft-iend Mr. R. Patterson of 

 Belfast: — " I remember some years ago my uncle, John Fowler, Esq., of 

 the bank of Ireland, had a pet jackdaw, which answered to the name of 

 Jack, and was regularly in the habit of performing a feat, which might 

 baffle many a person who talks about ' the centre of gi'avity.' When Mr. 

 Fowler after dinner had mixed his ' tumbler' of punch, and called ' Jack,' 

 the bird instantly came, and perched on the edge of the glass, where he 

 poised himself so nicely that it was never upset. I believe that, on such 

 occasions, he used to get from his master a bit of white sugar, which he ate 

 while thus resting on the tumbler." 



