180 
SYLVIADiE. 
one which he had shot on the preceding evening at the Palis ; 
its stomach was filled with coleopterous insects. Mr. Wm. 
Sinclaire on visiting the scene of its death on the following even- 
ing, and hearing its mate sing, recognised the note as having 
been often heard by him in the same place for the preceding six 
or seven years, when he had imagined it to proceed from some 
insect. This exact locality has not since been frequented by the 
species, but about a mile distant, the song of one was heard one 
night in June, 1845, so late as 11 o'clock; and in a subsequent 
year, on the 29th of April, so late as 12 o'clock. The one loca- 
lity is less than a mile, the other twice that distance from Belfast, 
county of Down, in the summer of 1838, the intelligent game- 
keeper assured me that he had heard its note (which he correctly 
imitated) there early in that season. About Killaloe, county 
of Clare, the Rev. Thomas Knox has seen and heard a bird, the 
note and habits of which correspond with those of the grass- 
hopper warbler, but no specimen has been obtained for examination. 
Mr. R. Davis in a letter dated August 2nd, 1838, mentioned this 
species as breeding within a few miles of Clonmel, whence a nest 
containing four eggs was brought to him, about two months be- 
fore that time. He kindly sent for my inspection an adult male 
bird, which was shot near Wexford, on the 11th of June, 1843, 
by Mr. Poole, who remarked that it frequented the thorn bushes 
on a fence, and would sing while he was close to it, adding, 
that “ its peculiar rotatory song bears no greater resemblance to 
anything than to the running out of a slick wheel." Mr. R. Ball 
remarks that he has often heard its curious voice, like the tapping 
of two stones together, in the neighbourhood of Youghal. 
THE SEDGE WARBLER. 
Salicaria phragmitis, Bechst. (sp.) 
Sylvia „ „ 
salicaria, Lath. 
Is a regular summer visitant from south to north. 
It is generally observed around Belfast within the first ten days 
of May, and once only have I been aware of its arrival not taking 
