64 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



The Icterine Warbler is said to derive its name from the 

 Greek word ikteros, meaning bile or jaundice,* because 

 it charms away that unpleasant disorder, or more pro- 

 bably from the yellow colour alluded to in its French 

 name. It has occurred but once in Ireland, having been 

 shot at Dunsinea by Mr. J. G. Rathborne, June 8th, 1856. 

 Mr. Rathborne was attracted by the splendid song of the 

 bird, which was quite new to him, and was enabled to 

 secure the only specimen ever obtained on Irish soil. 

 Every now and then, as he watched it, it rose up from 

 the willow-trees, after the manner of the flycatchers, to 

 secure its prey, and then returned singing to the branch 

 again. In England the first specimen of the Icterine 

 Warbler was obtained at Eythorne, near Dover, in 1848; 

 and, after a long lapse of years, I understand that the 

 bird was observed several times in 1884. 



Mr. Gould, writing before the occurrence of this bird 

 in England, says : " It is somewhat singular that this 

 species, so familiar to every naturalist on the Continent, 

 and which inhabits the gardens and hedgerows of those 

 portions of the coasts of France and Holland which are 

 immediately opposite to our own, should not, like the 

 rest of its immediate congeners, more diminutive in 

 size, and consequently less capable of performing exten- 

 sive flights, have occasionally strayed across the Channel, 

 and enlivened our glens and groves with its rich and 

 charming song, which is far superior to that of either of 

 the three other species of the group." 



On the 26th July, 1882, I had the pleasure of hearing 

 the remarkable song of the Icterine Warbler, when on a 



* " A yellow bird which, if one sees, being sick of the yellow jaundice, 

 the person recovers, and the bird dieth." 



