52 



The Irish Naturalist, 



Apnl, 1921., 



" Song and Nesting: of Birds." 



I was greatly interested in Mr. Burkitt's thoughtful article on the above 

 subject, partly because I had just finished reading a paper on pretty 

 much the same subject, entitled " The Singing Tree, or how near to the 

 nest do the male birds sing 'i " This paper is by H. Mousley and was pub- 

 lished in the Auk for July, 1919. Mr. Burkitt's main point is to show 

 that with at least a number of birds mating puts a brake or stopper on 

 song, and that we should have comparatively little song if it was not for 

 un-mated males. Mr. Mousley, on the other hand, seems to come to rather 

 the opposite conclusion in his study of American Warblers, etc., in which 

 he proves that the males were always in evidence during the nesting 

 season. He was led to this conclusion by the great difficulty he had in 

 locating the nests of the various species of warblers under his observation ; 

 it suddenly occurred to him to pay special attention to the males which 

 were singing in special trees or places, and he found that by dra-wnng an 

 imaginary circle round the singing male he could generally locate the nest, 

 the circle var>4ng from four to thirty yards and up to even fifty yards ; 

 and he goes on to say that the more he has been able to study the singing 

 ways of the male birds at nesting time the more he has been able to perfect 

 his system, but to find the nest he sa^'S it is essential for his system to have 

 a singing male. He then gives a list of various species which he has suc- 

 cessfully experimented with ; this includes Warblers, Sandpipers, Larks, 

 Finches, Thrushes, Waxwings, etc., all of which were singing during the 

 nesting season. This, in conclusion, I think makes quite an interesting 

 comparison between our species and their American cousins. Mr. Burkitt 

 points out that even in England there is much more singing amongst birds 

 than in this country, could it be possible that owing to our milder winters 

 birds start singing earlier than in England or America and consequently 

 stop earlier or about the time the nesting season commences. 



W. H, Workman. 



Belfast. 



Bittern in County Antrim. 



I was most fortunate in securing a beautiful male specimen of the 

 Common Bittern, Eotaurus stsllaris, at Rangecroft's poultry shop. It was 

 shot by a local gunner at Mosley, on Thursday, 13th January, 192 1, and 

 according to Ussher and Warren no previous record is given for county 

 Antrim although twenty-one records are given for County Down. The 

 curious moulted appearance of the back of the neck was very noticeable 

 in this specimen, which, according to Kirkman's " British Bird Book," is 

 the usual condition, as contour feathers do not grow on the back of the 

 neck of this species. 



W. H. Workman. 



Belfast. 



