THE WHITE-THROAT. 
187 
which I am aware of the species having been observed here. Near 
Raheny, county of Dublin, one was shot in December, 1843, by 
Mr. R. J. Montgomery, about the same time that a reed warbler, 
and two blackcaps, were obtained. 
The white-throat is a regular summer visitant to the extreme 
north-west of Ireland, and according to information received, is so 
to the neighbourhood of Killaloe, and to the counties of Tipperary, 
Wexford, Cork, and Kerry. Its earliest arrival in the county of 
Wexford noted by my correspondent is the 1st of May, and the 
latest seen in autumn, on the 21st of August;* but there can be 
little doubt, both of its arrival being earlier, and its stay later, 
than those dates denote. 
The song is commenced on arrival, and generally ceases early in 
the month of July. Its habits, and the grotesquely earnest appear- 
ance which the erected feathers on the crown of the head and the 
distended throat impart when singing, render this bird one of the 
most interesting of our warblers. When on one of its harmo- 
nious flights, the white-throat does not uniformly return to the 
same place, though it generally does so. I have seen one rise from 
a low bush, singing in its upward and irregular flight, alight on 
a leafless tree at some little distance, and there continue to pour 
forth its notes without intermission, as if perched in the same 
place all the time. At the Ralls early in the summer of 1833, 
the white-throat was several times heard to imitate the songs of 
other birds, after the manner of the sedge warbler. 
Mr. J. R. Garrett has seen at least half a dozen of its nests about 
Cromac, where they were generally placed in brambles or the wild 
rose, with growing grass concealing them from observation ; the 
eggs were generally five in number. This species would seem to 
prefer placing its nest in thorny plants, as all of those just 
mentioned were of that description. Indeed, the white-throat 
appears to be particularly partial to districts still in a state of 
nature, where the plants alluded to flourish in all their wild luxu- 
riance. In the romantic district of this kind, bounding the sea 
northward of Glenarm, I have remarked the species to be parti- 
* Mr. Poole. 
