204 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



lection, were gone. The Crossbills have not since been seen about 

 the Black Hill. 



In 1888 Mr. W. F. de Vismes Kane, being at Monkstown, 

 Co. Cork, was shown a tree in which Crossbills were said to have 

 nested that season, the first year when they seem to have been 

 commonly seen. Mr. Charles J. Patten, of Bray, informs me 

 that he heard of Crossbills breeding in Co. Wicklow in 1888> 

 and that on July 10th he saw a flock of about twenty- five of 

 them, old and young, in that neighbourhood, while in the 

 following October and November he obtained Crossbills fram the 

 Co. Westmeath. 



Mr. Kane heard also that a pair of Crossbills had frequented a 

 demesne in Westmeath during the summer of 1888 ; but his 

 informant, a steward, said that they had haunted the place for 

 four years. 



It was on November 13th, 1888, that I first saw Crossbills at 

 Cappagh ; but my men, who have since so ably aided my 

 observations, saw Crossbills here on December 26th, 1887 ; and 

 during January, February, and April, 1888, several of these birds 

 were shot at different places in the Blackwater Valley (Cork and 

 Waterford). 



It seems evident that this species is on the increase in Ireland 

 at present. Other young broods in parts of my ground, besides 

 those I have mentioned, are now to be seen among the trees 

 being fed by their parents. 



THE RUFF AND REEVE IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 

 By John Cordeaux.* 



The writings of Colonel Montagu and the Rev. Richard 

 Lubbock have made ornithologists familiar with the habits of 

 the Ruff and Reeve in the fens of Lincolnshire and Norfolk 

 at the commencement of the present century. Comparatively 

 abundant as was this singular species in those days in the low- 

 lying districts before drainage and complete cultivation had 

 quite broken up their haunts, they still bore a very small 

 proportion to the immense numbers which at one time visited 



* From 4 The Field.' Communicated by the author. 



