The Zoologist — October, 1868. 1401 



had this infatuation for her. After some years, however, the cockatoos 

 made a combined attack upon her; a tremendous scrimmage took 

 place, certainly not without the " din of battle," and it ended in the 

 slaughter of the poor old bird. They are very fond of the under 

 gardener, who feeds them, and he is rarely to be seen at work in the 

 garden without one or two of the cockatoos sitting on his head or 

 shoulders. 



Their arrangement of the hours is a very sensible one. Soon after 

 dawn their voices may be heard from a distant wood, in which most 

 of them sleep : they then come and wait for their breakfast, but the 

 mid-day hours are always spent in sleep, after which they again seek 

 for food, and come for their supper; but before going to bed they, like 

 rooks, devote themselves to a regular jollification, the parrots often 

 flying round at a great height in circles, screaming with delight ; while 

 the cockatoos fly from tree to tree, with their crests erected, shrieking 

 at the top of their sweet voices, especially if they see people in the 

 garden, which always is a great amusement. I must confess that some 

 of them, if not all, are mischievous, especially in the way of picking 

 fruit; but we think ourselves more than repaid by the animation they 

 give to the garden, and the exquisite beauty of their colouring. 



Ornithological Notes from the County Dublin for 1867. 

 By Harry Blake-Knox, Esq., J.P. 



(Continued from Zool. S. S. 1196). 



Ring Dove: fondness for Salt and Sea-weed. — I have elsewhere in 

 the 'Zoologist' mentioned favourite foods of the wood pigeon, but 

 omitted, perhaps, an important item in its bill of fare, viz. the young 

 growth of various sea-weeds peculiar to rocky coasts. Both in spring 

 and autumn " wood-quests" come from inland in the early morning to 

 feed upon the sea-rocks left bare by the tide, and here feed upon sea- 

 weeds and copiously drink the salt water from the rock-pools. In 

 autumn they are most commonly met with along the coast. Breeding 

 on the Cliffs at Lambay. — On the north and north-east side of Lamb ay 

 Island the cliffs are well clothed with verdure, ferns, &c, and are in- 

 clined to be shelvy : ivy, too, grows luxuriautly in places. On the 

 shelves and crevices of these cliffs and amongst the ivy the ring dove 

 breeds in considerable numbers. A few rock doves still frequent this 

 island. Gregarious in May. — May 6. Corn crakes are incubating, 



SECOND SERIKS — VOL. III. 3 C 



