NOTES AND QUERIES. 493 



appears at the bottom of the cup ; the inner walls, however, are lined with 

 a combination of a little wool, a quantity of black horse-hair and a twisted 

 black feather, the quill of which projects from the centre of the margin. 

 I have never seen a nest at all resembling it ; although the egg would do 

 fairly well for that of the Chaffinch, the nest is totally dissimilar. I took 

 the nest on the 4th June, and it had then been deserted for about eight 

 days. The nest of the Linnet is more variable than that of the Greenfinch. 

 Of five nests which I took only one had any moss in its construction ; this 

 one is somewhat slightly built for the species, but the walls are strengthened 

 with coarse straws, evidently selected from a dunghill ; the second, excepting 

 that it is not so deep, is not at all unlike a small nest of the Yellow Bunting ; 

 its construction is, however, decidedly firmer, and the grasses used in the 

 walls are similar to what one usually sees in the nest of the Greater White- 

 throat ; the third nest is untidy, loosely put together, and has blackish 

 straggling roots projecting from the sides ; the fourth is unusually deep, 

 and is formed of roots, fibre, and wool, with a few white hairs towards the 

 interior ; the fifth is a very ragged construction, formed of coarse bleached 

 roots, lined with fine fibre and wool ; no two of these nests therefore exhibit 

 a similar aspect. Most nests which I have obtained of the Yellow Bunting 

 have been largely made up of very coarse dead grasses, especially round the 

 rim of the cup ; but last year I found a nest with three eggs, at Box Hill, 

 on the 12th August, from which this coarse edging was entirely absent, 

 giving it somewhat the appearance of a large and very untidy nest of the 

 Blackcap. — Arthur G. Butler (10, Aviugton Grove, Penge). 



The Siskin in Ireland. — The statement of Thompson, that in Ireland 

 the Siskin has only been noticed as an occasional winter visitant, requires 

 to be corrected. Mr. Barrington found a Siskin's nest near Bray in 1866, 

 and I am able to record other instances of its breeding in Ireland, noted as 

 far back as 1855. At that time I was familiar with these birds, having 

 shot some and sent them to be stuffed. On June 7th, 1856, I saw five 

 undoubted Siskins by the Bride Kiver, and my journal shows frequent 

 notices of Siskins, in April, May, and June, especially in 1857, when 

 I noted Siskins on April 3rd, 15th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 26th, 28th, 29th, 

 May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 21st, June 12th. On 

 the said 22ud April, 1857, I saw three pairs of Siskins, and discovered 

 the nest of one pair by watching them ; it was in an upper lateral branch 

 of a Scotch fir on the outskirts of a plantation here. On the 28th April 

 I climbed up to it, and while I did so both the Siskins came and hopped 

 about on the tree, uttering cries of distress ; they then forsook the nest, in 

 which no eggs had been laid ; it was almost entirely composed of moss, but 

 was not lined at the time. Coming to the year 1882, on June 8th I was 

 attracted by a Siskin singing on the wing, and saw three or more among 

 the firs above this house. I saw two on June 17th and one on the 24th. 



