1921. 



Notes. 



25 



cock, flew over my head, having evidently been flushed by a boy who was 

 chmbing a tree close to the wall behind me. The bird flew over the ground, 

 wheeled left-handed and was lost to sight in the fog over Brunswick Street. 

 He was also seen by Surgeon Pringle who was standing further down the 

 ground on my left. On examination, the bird had evidently been lying 

 amongst some dead leaves which had collected under the wall. I reported 

 this interesting occurrence to the Irish Times and a paragraph appeared 

 in their paper on Monday, 20th. On that day I chanced to meet Mr. 

 Croker Barrington in the street, who informed me that the last occasion 

 on which a Woodcock had been seen in the Park was about fifty years 

 ago. He was playing in a hockey match, when, as he described it, a bird 

 zigzaged amongst the players, one of whom struck at it with his hockey- 

 stick and killed it ; on picking it up they found it was a Woodcock. 



Kildare Street Club, Dublin. Hugh D. Pack-Beresford, 



Birds' Nests and their Fate. 



A recent remark [supra, p. 5) by Mr. Burkitt that " In my experience, 

 the odds are that when you have got as far as the nests, at least half of 

 them and probably two-thirds will come to a bad end," put me in mind 

 of some observations on this point made many years ago. For several 

 years I searched for nests in the Holywood neighbourhood (Co. 

 Down) with some industry, and kept notes of their history. The year 

 1884 supplies the most complete record, and I give below an abstract 

 of it. About half of the nests were found within the confines of villadom ; 

 the remaining half in the plantations, glens, etc., of open undulating 

 fertile country. The nests were more thickly distributed in the former 

 section, but the percentage of casualties was higher there. The species 

 of birds represented, and the number of nests in each case, were as follows : 

 Blackbird, 65 ; Chaffinch, 41 ; Goldcrest, 2 ; Great Tit, i ; Greenfinch, 

 30 ; Grey Wagtail, i ; Hedge-Sparrow, 20 ; Jackdaw, 3 ; Kestrel, i ; 

 Lesser Redpoll, 2 ; Linnet, 2 ; Magpie, 20 ; Meadow Pipit, i ; Missel- 

 Thrush, 5; Robin, 17; Skylark, i; Song-Thrush, 19; Sparrow, 2; 

 Sparrow-Hawk, 2 ; Spotted Flycatcher, i ; Starhng. 3 ; Water-Ouzel, 2 ; 

 Waterhen, 3; Woodcock, i; Wood-Pigeon, 11 ; Wren, 14; Yellow- 

 hammer, 12. Total of all species, 282. If T' stand for " nest left 

 unfinished " ; D, " nest deserted with eggs or young " : R, " nest robbed 

 or eggs or young destroyed " ; F, " young safely fledged ' ; and O, " end 

 not known," the story of the 282 nests, expressed in percentages, was 



U = 8, D~-.i5, R---35- F = 35, 0 = 7. 

 Or dividing the uncertain 7 per cent, proportionately, we may say 37 per 

 cent, of the nests saw broods safely fledged, 63 per cent, of them were 

 built in vain. These figures show the correctness of .Mr. Burkitt's in- 

 ferences. Of those birds of which a good number of nests were observed, 

 the most successful species were — Robin (48 per cent, fledged), Yellow- 

 hammer {42 per cent.). Chaffinch (41 per cent.). Magpie (40 per cent.) 



