190 sylviad^:. 



the young were hatched, and on the 19th had left the nest : thus 

 in six days the complement of eggs was laid, in thirteen they 

 were incubated, and in eleven or twelve days the young were 

 fledged. There was a second nest at the same place that season, 

 containing similar eggs. 



In the Fauna of Cork, it is remarked by Dr. Harvey : — " I am 

 inclined to believe that the wood wren (S. sibilatrix, Bechst.) 

 is entitled to the place in the Catalogue of Irish Birds, which Mr. 

 Thompson doubtfully assigns to it, on the authority of a friend. 

 This gentleman's observations as to the nest being lined with 

 feathers, contrary to the account of it in the different systematic 

 works, entirely coincide with those of my late friend and relative, 

 Mr. Henry Eennell of Ballybrado, in the county of Tipperary. 

 This talented young gentleman, who was an ardent ornithologist, 

 closely observed a few years since, a bird which appeared to him 

 new, and he found both nest and eggs precisely answering the 

 description given by Mr. Thompson, in the Annals of Natural 

 History (vol. i. p. 22). The nest was profusely lined with 

 feathers, and the eggs (two of which are now in my possession) 

 quite differently spotted from those of the willow wren, and much 

 more densely covered. The bird was larger than either the willow 

 wren or chiff-chaff, and whiter underneath/' p. vii. These, and 

 the preceding notes, do not go farther than affording some circum- 

 stantial evidence in favour of the wood wren being a summer 

 visitant : — proof is still wanting. 



This bird appears to be pretty generally distributed over Eng- 

 land including the west, and is found northward to the middle 

 districts of Scotland.* Authors state that it differs from the 

 S. trochilus and S. hippolais, by having a decided preference for 

 old woods or trees, and these are much less numerous in Ireland 

 than in either England or Scotland, winch may be one reason for the 

 S. sibilatrix not visiting this island like its congeners just named. In 

 July, 1826, this species came under my observation in Switzerland. 



* Jard. ; Macg. 



