84 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



Mr. Selby and the Rev. Edward Bigge, of Merton 

 College, Oxford, the song of a bird which I had not 

 before heard attracted me ; and the attention of the 

 former gentleman being called to it, he stated it to be 

 unquestionably that of the Blackcap, with which he 

 was quite familiar. On the following day, we heard the 

 song of another repeated for a long time in Massereene 

 Park, on the other side of the lake. Neither songster 

 was seen." 



It has now, however, a wide range in Ireland, and 

 there are few counties in which it has not been 

 observed, though in most it is rare. It is thought to be 

 the shyest of all the Warblers, though I think the 

 Garden Warbler is equally an adept at concealment as 

 he sings. 



Some years ago one of my pupils shot a young 

 Blackcap near the saw-mills on the River Dodder, about 

 three miles from Dublin, and forwarded it to me. Not 

 very long after I received another specimen, shot by 

 Mr. Blandford, at Oldcastle, County Meath. I was 

 therefore anxious to see and hear the bird for myself, 

 and, lecturing on birds at St. Werburgh's Temperance 

 Association, under the presidency of the Rev. Canon 

 Greene, now Dean of Christ Church, I mentioned that 

 there were some birds in Ireland I was most desirous to 

 observe, in particular the Blackcap, Wood Warbler, 

 Garden Warbler, Woodlark, and Ring Ousel, and stated 

 that I should be happy to give a small reward to 

 anyone who would tell me the localities where they 

 might be found. A few evenings afterwards, having 

 had some new palings erected between our garden at 

 Elm Park and the front lawn, I was sedulously engaged 



