144 THE OENITHOLOGIST. 



example in breeding plumage of the Wall Creeper (Tichodroma muraria). 

 His attention was called to it by some men who had noticed its bright 

 colours, and he shot it near the ruin of the Grey Friar's Chapel, on the 

 property of Major Stileman. It was set up by Gasson, of Rye. It is 

 unfortunate that no note was made of the date of the occurrence, but Mr. 

 Mitchell feels sure it was in late spring about ten years ago, i.e., about 1886. 

 This is the third recorded occurrence in Britain, and is an addition to the 

 Sussex avifauna. The specimen is now in my possession, and it will be 

 exhibited at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club. — W. C. J. 

 Ruskin Butterfield (St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



Nesting of the Willow-Warbler.— Mr. H. S. Davenport (epis.) and 

 Mr. Moffat (IrisJi Naturalist), have expressed surprise that I should have 

 stated in my receutly-published Handbook (p. 27) that the nest of this bird 

 is "rarely on ground." After glancing over some of my notebooks, I can 

 only reiterate my statement with emphasis, a 5 ", so far as my own experience 

 is concerned, I can only find one instance noted of a nest being in actual 

 contact with the earth, and that one was on a bank, while nearly all the 

 nests are noted as being from three or four to six or eight inches from the 

 ground in grass, brambles, rank herbage, or the bottoms of small bushes. 

 I have even a nest recorded as found near Harrow, June 21st, 1891, which 

 was placed in a little bush at a height of very nearly two feet six inches from 

 the ground. The nest of the Chiffchaff is, I admit, commonly placed on the 

 ground, but it is hardly likely that there should be a race of Willow- 

 Warblers unknown to me at present which differ from nearly all those I 

 have met with in placing their nest in contact with the ground. Possibly, 

 however, I have erred in being too nicely discriminative, and my critics 

 mean that when the lower surface of a nest is six inches from the ground, it 

 is "on the ground." — H. KiRKE Swann. 



American Robin* in Connaught. — During a recent visit to Carrick- 

 on-Shannon, I was informed by Mr. C. C. Beresford Whyte that his keeper 

 at Newtown Manor, near Lough Gill, had shot there and preserved a 

 strange thrush with a red breast. On visiting the place, I was shown the 

 bird by Mr. Robert West, whom I found to be a most observant and 

 careful man. I placed him in communication with Dr. Scharff, and the 

 result is that the bird is now in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin, the 

 second example obtained in Ireland ; the previous one, also in the Museum, 

 having been shot in Co. Dublin on 4th May, 1891. Mr. West writes about 

 his bird — "The Thrush was shot on or about 7th December, 1892, in a 

 large water-meadow, very near the shore of Lough Gill, Newtown Manor 

 side, feeding with a similar bird, also with Snipe, Lapwing, Fieldfares, and 



Erratum. —Pnge 101, line 13, for " twice" read " once." 



