136 



The Irish Naturalist. November, 1921. 



Ravens on Howth. 



In September 20th I saw a pair of Ravens on the southern cliffs of 

 Howth and have seen and heard them about the same locahty several 

 times since. On enquiry I find they have been about Howth, probably 

 since March last, but I have not been able to find out if they nested here. 



In the Irish Nat. for 1907 (p. 27) it is stated that the Raven nested 

 on Lambay Island until 1883, and in the Handbook of Dublin and 

 District prepared for the British Association in Septem'">er, 1908, Mr. 

 R. M. Barrington wrote of the Raven : " Rare and decreasing species. 

 Used to breed at Howth (Hart) and on Lambay. A few pairs still nest 

 in the Wicklow Mountains." 



The Tansey, Baily. Denis R. Pack-Beresford. 



The Song: and Nesting of Birds. 



Since my article in the October issue of the Irish Naturalist [supra, 

 p. 113— J 24) went to press I have this September heard a great deal more 

 Chaffinch residual autumn song, amidst a general chirping, chiefly in the 

 second half of the month, on fine mornings and ceasing about 10 a.m. 

 as in earliest spring. The song was sluggish and never made a proper 

 twirl at the end. I did not give sufficient attention to be sure whether 

 such singers had each a " headquarters " or incipient territory. Of 

 course this song implied a break from the flocking, temporary or 

 permanent. As I have indicated, some members of flocking species 

 seem paired through the winter and then are more or less definitely 

 separated from the flocks. 



It is worth noting that in several species the stronger the mating 

 impulse or the more it is unsatisfied, the more the song encroaches into 

 the daytime. Hence there is a strong connection between mateless 

 birds and much day song. 



In reference to the occasion of song, I have elsewhere said that song 

 may be made in alarm. Mr. G. C. S. Ingram writing on the Blackcap 

 in British Birds, September, 1921, instances song when brooding on ii-day 

 old chicks, and when fear of his presence prevented the male from 

 feeding the young in nest, and when escorting a fledgeling in the bushes. 

 I might assert that the first and third of these occasions shewed the will 

 to re-brood as I have referred to in Whitethroat and Willow Wren, and 

 that the second occasion was alarm, but would I be right ? Can we 

 learn anything from caged birds ? Do they sing to an unnatural extent ? 

 And if so, is it because they cannot fulfil their mating destiny ? 



Enniskillen. 



James P. Burkitt. 



