326 Alexander Goodman More. [i884 



the most work. It was recorded by Thompson as resident 

 in six counties (Antrim, Down, Armagh, Dublin, Cork, and 

 Waterford), while Watters added a seventh (Wicklow). 

 But though, from its sweet song, it seemed a likely species 

 to be well-known to the bird-catchers, wherever resident, it 

 appears from Watters' book that even in his time (1853) 

 the Dublin dealers in cage-birds were totally unacquainted 

 with it. In the rural parts of Ireland, its record was now 

 not less hard to trace. From Antrim and Down, Mr. 

 Stewart knew no recent verification. From Armagh, the 

 Rev. G. Robinson (Thompson's original authority for the 

 Woodlark at Tandragee, and also at Rostrevor) could 

 report no later instance than " about thirty-seven years 

 ago." In Waterford and Cork, Mr. Ussher was " not 

 acquainted with the Woodlark " : only a few old bird- 

 catchers remembered it. " The species seems to be 

 vanishing from this country with the Quail/' Mr. Ussher 

 wrote (February 25th, 1885), but quoted at the same time 

 a letter from Mr. W. Corbet, of Holly Hill, Rathcormack, 

 which mentioned the capture of two in the previous winter. 

 And this reference led ultimately, but not immediately, to 

 the securing of two authentic Irish Woodlarks for the 

 Museum. In the list of Irish Birds (first edition) Mr. More 

 still says, " I have never seen an Irish specimen." And it 

 was not until within the last twelve-month of his thirty- 

 one years' residence in Ireland that the Woodlark was at 

 length fairly reinstated in the list of Irish breeding birds, 

 when (in April, 1894) a nest containing an egg and three 

 young Woodlarks was found in the county Wicklow. 



