1 62 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



better light, and the aid of a field glass, I was 

 not long in making out quite distinctly the white 

 wing marks, which showed me that it was not 

 the common Muscicapa grisola. I took my 

 gun and secured what I believe to be the first 

 specimen of Muscicapa atricapilla ever shot in 

 Ireland. Neither Thompson in his ' Birds of 

 Ireland/ nor Professor Newton in his new 

 edition of 'Yarrell's British Birds,' mentions it 

 as a visitor to Ireland, or gives any record of its 

 capture in this island ; and Mr. Harting, in his 

 ' Handbook of British Birds/ p. 10, says it is 

 unknown in Ireland. The specimen, an adult 

 female, is now in the collection of the Royal 

 Dublin Society." 



To this communication the editor appended 

 the following note : " Although we always re- 

 gret to hear of the wanton destruction of a rare 

 bird, we must admit that circumstances some- 

 times occur to justify an individual capture, and 

 we think the present instance is a case in point. 

 By the actual possession of the bird seen, Mr. 

 Warren has been enabled to establish beyond 



