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



missel-thrush {Turdus viscivorus*). The latest positive evidence 

 knovpn to me of the occurrence of the true jay in the quarter alluded 

 to, is afforded by a venerable friend, who about sixty years ago re- 

 ceived three young ones from a nest in Portmore park, on the borders 

 of Lough Neagh, once rich in fine woods of oak, but which long 

 since have fallen before the axe. In the Irish Statutes, 17th of 

 George II., chap. 10, a reward is offered for the head of the jay, 

 together with that of the magj^ie and others of the Corvida. Mr. 

 Yarrell seems to imagine that it is to the numbers killed in conse- 

 quence of this reward being offered, that the species generally be- 

 came less numerous with us ; but as the jay can, like the Corvida, 

 for which a reward was at the same time offered, take yery good 

 care of itself, I should attribute its decrease to other and more natu- 

 ral causes. With reference to the distribution of this bird in Ireland, 

 it is desirable to ascertain its distribution in Scotland. Sir Wm. 

 Jardine observes, that " as we proceed northward it becomes much 

 more local, though by no means rare, where it is found frequenting 

 generally the older wood around private seats, and in parks, and 

 some of the forests in the middle highlands. It is common both in 

 Perth- and Argyleshire, but we are not sure that it extends to the 

 forests of the far northf." 



I have never met with this beautiful bird in a wild state in Ire- 

 land, but have had the gratification of seeing it in Scotland among 

 the natural wood about the northern extremity of Loch Lomond, as 

 well as about Coniston Water in Lancashire ; and on the continent, 

 in Switzerland and Italy — in the latter country, on the richly wooded 

 banks of the Nera, not far from its confluence with the Tiber, and 

 14° to the south of the first-named locality + . 



Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Picus major, Linn. — 

 All that can be positively stated of woodpeckers as Irish 

 birds, is, that the P. major has in a very few instances been 

 met with. 



Templeton records a specimen obtained in the county of London- 

 derry in August 1802, having been sent to Dr. M'Donnell of Bel- 

 fasti; and a second having been met with since. An example 



* This bird is correctly remarked by Dubourdieu to be " now frequent," 

 so that the true jav is evidently the bird alluded to. 



t Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 253. 



t The nutcracker, Nucifraga Caryocatactes, Briss., cannot be announced 

 with any certainty as having ever been met with in Ireland. Among the 

 notes of Mr. Templeton is one to the effect that a bii"d of this species " had 

 been shot at Silvermines, county of Tipperaiy, by Mr. J. Lewis." In the 

 preparation of Mr. Templeton's ' Catalogue of the Vertebrate Animals of 

 Ireland ' (published in the ' Magazine of Natural Histoiy,' vol. i. New Se- 

 ries) by bis son, the nutcracker was omitted in consequence of the latter 

 gentleman being unaware of any further particulars. 



§ Among Mr. Templeton's drawings is a beautiful coloured representation 

 of this bird. I have only met with this species in its native haunts, in the 

 richly wooded valley of Sarnen, Switzerland. 



