THE LESSER REDPOLE. 271 



to do about Clonmel.* Some authors state, that in England it 

 breeds only in the north.f 



Mr. Selby, who treats most pleasingly of this species, — as he 

 always does when not confining himself to a brief description, — 

 mentions it as resorting to breed in localities of a wild char- 

 acter. In addition to such, in the neighbourhood of Belfast, 

 the most cultivated and improved districts are frequented for that 

 purpose. In the year 1845, it has built in large Portugal laurels in 

 the Botanic Garden, and in common laurels near to a dwelling- 

 house in the outskirts of the town. A nest in the former place, was 

 composed of moss, grass, and a cotton-like substance, and con- 

 tained five eggs on the 6th of May. In the latter, the pair com- 

 menced building on the 4th of May ; the nest was made of moss 

 and cotton, % strengthened with stems of withered grass, and lined 

 with hair ; it was completed on the 8th ; next day one egg was 

 laid; on the 12th, four had been deposited; on the 23rd, the young 

 made their appearance ; on the 4th of June they left the nest, 

 being then able to fly well, and almost as large as their parents. § 

 It likewise builds about gardens, and an humble goose-berry bush 

 was once the chosen receptacle of the nest, which was said to have 

 been lined with feathers. Hawthorn trees are also chosen; 

 from which circumstance, it is called by bird-fanciers in the north 

 of Ireland thorn-grey, in contradiction to the common linnet, 

 named whin-grey, on account of selecting the whin for its nest. 

 In the picturesque and wooded glens, this bird has chiefly come 

 under my own notice, and built in the Conifer a, the larch -fir appear- 

 ing to be the favourite species for the purpose. " It breeds in the 

 counties of Armagh and Tyrone. In the summer of 1844, two 



* Davis. 



t Mr. Hewitson, however, in the later edition of his beautiful work on the Eggs of 

 British Birds, remarks : — " Mr. Wolley, who lives at Beeston, near Nottingham, 

 informs me that it breeds in his neighbourhood, and that his brother has found its nest 

 near Rugby, in Warwickshire. Mr. Briggs also meets with it near Melbourne, in 

 Derbyshire." p. 166. 



+ A cotton -mill is in the vicinity. Sir Wm. Jardine remarks, that the down of wil- 

 low-catkins seems to be an indispensable material. Brit. Birds, vol. ii.p. 289. 



§ These particulars were noted by an accurate observer, Mr. Darragh, curator of the 

 Belfast Museum. 



