NOTES AND QUERIES. 297 



defiance of each other, — as many small birds do at times, — and I could not 

 be certain that these birds were not present until I caught siglit of the 

 CbifFchaff iu a thorn-hedge, and had closely watched it for some time. It 

 began its song with the first two soft notes of the Willow Wren and ended 

 with the last two notes of the Chiffchaff — a combination of song that 

 puzzled me, for although I had been acquainted with both the notes of the 

 Chiffchaff and Willow Wren since I was quite a boy, yet I never heard 

 anything similar to it before, for the notes of both birds are so unlike and 

 are so well marked that no one can mistake one for tlie other. I w-as so 

 struck with its strange song that I intended to shoot and examine the bird, 

 but on the following day, when I went to look for it, it had disappeared 

 from the plantations, and it was a fortnight after before I heard another 

 individual singing in the usual manner. I should be glad to hear if any of 

 your readers ever heard a ChifFchaff sing as the one above mentioned. On 

 April 23rd I heard the first Willow Wren, but the cold weather stopped 

 its song for several days, until the 29th, upon which day I heard some 

 Whimbrels. The Cuckoo was not heard until May 2nd, and Swallows 

 appeared on the same day. The Corn Crake was not heard in this neigh- 

 bourhood until May 12th, nor Whitethroats until the 15th, and the first 

 Spotted Flycatcher on the 22nd ; the poor bird appeared very uncomfortable 

 and cold-looking, owing to the stormy weather and heavy hail-storms of the 

 previous four days, when the thermometer fell to 39° on the nights of the 

 19th and 20th. However, as if to make up for the low temperature of 

 April and first half of May, the weather has now become very warm, the 

 thermometer all through June never having been below 70°, by day, 

 and on the 15th, 16th, and 17th it has been up to 74°, 79°, and 81°. On 

 the 17th I was at Bartragh, and saw about a dozen Godwits, but all were 

 in the pale plumage of winter, none exhibiting any red feathers. I saw 

 some young Ring Plovers nearly able to fly, running about near their 

 nesting-places, and as I was walking along the sands by the open bay at 

 the north side of the island I was surprised at seeing a large flock of Red- 

 breasted Mergansers, at least a hundred birds, closely packed together, 

 swimming just outside the surf. There were very few birds with dark 

 heads in the flock, the majority appearing to be females or immature males. 

 It was a most unusual sight to me, for I never before observed Mergansers 

 at this season flock on the sea; indeed the most I have ever come across 

 would be perhaps half a dozen individuals fishing on the inside channels. 

 It is probable that the Shoveller Duck nests regularly every season on Lough 

 Conn, for a few years ago I saw an old male flying about a reedy bay on 

 the lake near the old abbey of Errew, and from its not wishing to leave the 

 place when disturked, but continuing to fly round, I am sure it had its 

 mate hatching close by; and this season, near the same part of the lake, 

 a pair were seen and the male shot some time last April. Many Wild 

 ZOOLOGIST. — AUGUST, 1887. 2 A 



