1 62 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



better light, and the aid of a field glass, I was 

 not long in making out quite distinctly the white 

 wing marks, which showed me that it was not 

 the common Muscicapa grisola. I took my 

 gun and secured what I believe to be the first 

 specimen of Muscicapa atricapilla ever shot in 

 Ireland. Neither Thompson in his ' Birds of 

 Ireland,' nor Professor Newton in his new 

 edition of ' Yarrell's British Birds,' mentions it 

 as a visitor to Ireland, or gives any record of its 

 capture in this island ; and Mr. Harting, in his 

 ' Handbook of British Birds,' p. lo, says it is 

 unknown in Ireland. The specimen, an adult 

 female, is now in the collection of the Royal 

 Dublin Society." 



To this communication the editor appended 

 the following note : — " Although we always re- 

 gret to hear of the wanton destruction of a rare 

 bird, we must admit that circumstances some- 

 times occur to justify an individual capture, and 

 we think the present instance is a case in point. 

 By the actual possession of the bird seen, Mr. 

 Warren has been enabled to establish beyond 



