38 Birds of Fortwilliam Park. 



The sedge-warbler sings regularly during the season for 

 several years, often so late as ten o'clock at night. Heard in 

 snatches at that hour, and at some distance from the listener, it 

 might suggest the nightingale ; but he (Mr. Dickson) was of 

 opinion that the full songs of the two birds do not at all re- 

 semble each other. 



The garden-warbler, which is an irregular visitor to the Park, 

 is said to be rarely seen in the same district with the black-cap 

 warbler. The garden-warbler is somewhat common on the 

 banks of the Lagan, and it would be interesting to know if the 

 blackcap is also to be found there. 



The willow wren is very abundant. That charming little 

 migrant, weighing under three drachms, comes all the way 

 from the forests of Algeria, 1500 miles off. The golden- 

 crested wren, smallest and most elegant of British birds, and a 

 resident in the Park, is to a great extent migratory. Large 

 arrivals take place every year from Norway and Sweden. 

 They stop for a day or so at that favorite bird-hostel, Heligoland, 

 on their way across, and arrive regularly a few days before the 

 woodcock. 



In connection with the tradition that the magpie was first 

 found in Ireland in the County of Wexford 300 years ago, 

 having been brought over by the English, he stated that con- 

 tinued observation has shown that migrants to Ireland enter 

 the country in immensely large numbers near the Tuskar Rock, 

 Wexford, and that route is undoubtedly the great highway 

 for birds coming across England to Ireland during their 

 autumnal movements. 



Some striking instances were given of adaptation to sur- 

 rounding colors by the chaffinch in the construction of its 

 exquisite nest. One bird which built its nest in an Austrian 

 pine within arm's length of the public road through the Park, 

 so skilfully intertwined little pieces of white paper into the 

 structure — obviously to mimic the white buds of the pine — that 

 .it escaped detection. The separation of the sexes for a time 

 during winter has often been remarked in Fortwilliam Park and 

 district. The chaffinch possesses rare vocal powers. It has 



