222 
The Irish Naturalist. 
October, 
was situated near the top of an almost perpendicular cliff com- 
posed for about 60 to 70 feet from sea-level of rudely columnar 
basalt ; overlying this a band of about 5 feet of clay iron-ore, 
on which rested about 4 feet of the upper series of the basaltic 
lava flow, and above this a sand-bank averaging about 3 feet 
thick at the face of the cliff, the nesting hole being about 2 
feet below the summit. Alongside were about a dozen nests 
of Sand-Martins which must, at the time of our visit, have con- 
tained young, as the Martins were continually flying back- 
wards and forwards and conveying food to the nests. 
The Tree-Sparrow is fairly common in many districts of 
England, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, but so rare in Ireland 
that it may be well to summarise what has been recorded as to 
its distribtition in this island. Thompson {Naitiral History of 
Ireland^ i849)says—" The Tree-Sparrow appears in Templeton's 
Catalogue of Irish Vertebrate Animals * as a doubtful native,' 
but to my ornithological friends and myself it is quite un- 
known." Watters {Birds of Ireland^ 1853) does not mention 
the species at all. The British Association Guide to Co, 
Dublin (1878) says of this species — Very rare Winter visitor. 
One shot near Sandymount in March, 1865, is in Museum of 
Science and Art." A. G. More's List of Irish Birds (ist Edition, 
1885) says — " Very rare, and hitherto found chiefly near 
Dublin, but apparently increasing of late years. Has occurred 
about Baldoyle, Sandymount, and Dalkey. Some nestlings, 
obtained by Mr. E. Williams from near Howth, are in the 
Museum [June, 1882]. The first Irish specimen was exhibited 
in May, 1852, to the Dublin Nat. Hist. Society by Mr. R. J. 
Montgomery." 
The above contains the first recorded notice of the Tree- 
Sparrow breeding in Ireland. In the 2nd Edition of More's 
List (1889) the following is added—*' A pair were found, as if 
breeding, on Aranmore Island, Co. Donegal, by Mr. H. M. 
Wallis, in May, 1886 {Zoologist, 1886)." Ussher {Birds of 
Ireland, 1900) states that since 1852 the species has evidently 
increased and spread over that part of the county between Dublin 
Bay and the Malahide Estuary. ... In December, 1900, 
a specimen was obtained near Bray, on the borders of Dublin 
and Wicklow. On the 22nd October, 1896, a Tree-Sparrow, 
now in Mr, Barrington's collection, was caught exhausted on 
