OCCASIONAL NOTES. ues 425 
surprised at this, as the woods here are large, and my keeper has been very 
busy rearing pheasants; but if they have remained about the place they 
ought to show themselves during the autumn and early winter. A great 
deal of my wood is a natural growth of holly, hazel, and oak, which IT think 
- ought to suit the Nuthatch. There are also a good many ants, but they do 
not form regular ant-hills, and I have tried and failed to introduce the large 
wood ant. I have now; through the persevering kindness of Mr. Borrer, 
four fine young birds, which I hope to take with me to Ireland next week ; 
but I am a little doubtful what to do—whether to turn them out this 
autumn or to keep them until the. spring. My experience with the Nut- 
hatches—and not with them only, for I have tried Hawfinches, Crossbills, 
Blackgame, and Capercaillies—shows the great difficulty of trying to 
introduce any birds into strange localities. I believe, however, that the . 
chief obstacle to success is the difficulty of getting a sufficient number to 
allow for casualties. Nothing but the interest Mr. Borrer has shown in the 
experiment has enabled me to give the Nuthatches a fair chance: for I find 
it next to impossible to purchase any of our less common birds. T have 
tried for a long time to buy a few Spotted Woodpeckers, but without 
success, although I have given commissions to several of our London bird- 
fanciers. I shall be happy at any time to give you information as to how 
Tam getting on with my various experiments, which are not confined to 
birds, for I am now trying to establish some foreign moths.—Epwarp H 
Coops, Lieut.-Col. (Markree Castle, Collooney, Co. Sligo). 
Nestine or Buackcame 1x WotmeEr Forrst.—To show the difficulties 
attending the increase of Blackgame at Wolmer, I find, on reference to 
my notes, that a nest of nine eggs was ruthlessly taken by boys in charge 
of cattle grazing on the Government ground on the Ist June, 1878, and no 
direct evidence of the robbery established; while out of a nest of seven 
eggs examined by Capt. Feilden and myself‘on the 13th of the same month 
only two eggs proved fertile, five addled ones being left in the nest! 
Whether this latter lamentable failure was due to the cold wet weather 
prevalent at the time, or to the well-known preponderance of male birds, 
Iam unable to say. It serves, in any case, to account for the fact that 
there is no marked increase in the number of Blackgame in the Forest, in 
spite of all restrictions and strict preservation of the Grey-hens.—S. G. 
' Rerp (Capt. R.E.). 
Discovery or THe Ecos or Tar Curtew Sanppirer. — In ‘The 
Ibis’ for July Dr. T. M. Brewer, of Boston, thus announces the discovery 
by an American naturalist of the egg of the Curlew Sandpiper, Tringa sub- 
arquata, hitherto unrepresented by authentic specimens in any collection :— 
- “Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, Naturalist to the Expedition sent to the Cumber- 
land Region, was so fortunate as to find the Curlew Sandpiper breeding in 
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