126 CHIFF CHAFF. 



It occurs in Wales also, and in Ireland in certain localities 

 from north to south; in a few places near Belfast, in the 

 counties of Down and Antrim, and near Cushendall, to the 

 north of the latter; and in the park of Shane's Castle, about 

 Brjansford, and Kostrever, in the former; in the county of 

 Dublin, at Glasnevin and the Phoenix Park; near Clonmel, 

 Clogheen, and Waterford; Castle Warren and Glengariff, in 

 the county of Cork; and has once been obtained near Tralee, 

 in Kerry. 



It inhabits groves, woods, coppices, beds of reeds, gardens, 

 the sides of small streams where trees grow, such as, in the 

 latter situations, the alder and the aspen, and in the former 

 the oak, the fir, and the birch. Among these it may be 

 seen in the early vernal season, in sheltered places, searching 

 among the boughs and branches for its food, and emitting 

 at intervals its shrill note. 



This is one of the earliest of our summer, or rather of our 

 spring visitants, arriving here the end of March, or the 

 beginning of April. Some have been seen, by Montagu, so 

 early as the 12th. and the 14th. of the former month, and 

 several by the 20th. He also once saw one about Christmas, 

 in 1802: near Swansea it has been heard on the 30th. of 

 January. In Devonshire it arrived in the year 1851 on 

 March 21st., 1848 on March 23rd., and in 1849 on March 

 18th., and commonly is seen or heard from the 25th. to the 

 29th.; one was shot near Torquay on the 10th. of January, 

 1851. In Kent it has been known on the 24th., in the 

 year 1851, and in Bedfordshire, by George B. Clarke, Esq., 

 on the 22nd. of that month, in 1852. In Oxfordshire on 

 the 25th., by the Revs. A. and H. Matthews, and in Yorkshire, 

 on the banks of the Don, near Sproitborough, the seat of 

 Sir Joseph Copley, Bart., by Peter Inchbald, Esq. It leaves 

 us also late, not till the beginning of October, giving us a 

 longer stay than most others; some few however have been 

 known to remain in the southern counties, having been met 

 with at all seasons of the year; and Mr. Macgillivray had 

 one, killed near Newhaven, in January, 1836. It is somewhat 

 uncertain in its appearance, many appearing in one year, while 

 not an individual is to be seen the next. It is very possible 

 that those individuals which have been noticed at so early a 

 date in the year have remained in this country through the 

 winter. In Ireland, its earliest recorded arrival is the 3rd. 

 of April, and on the 7th. of that month it was seen in 1838 



