190 
SYLYIADJL 
the young were hatched, and on the 19th had left the nest : thus 
in six days the complement of eggs was laid, in thirteen they 
were incubated, and in eleven or twelve days the young were 
fledged. There was a second nest at the same place that season, 
containing similar eggs. 
In the Fauna of Cork, it is remarked by Dr. Harvey : — “ I am 
inclined to believe that the wood wren (S, sibilatrix, Bechst.) 
is entitled to the place in the Catalogue of Irish Birds, which Mr. 
Thompson doubtfully assigns to it, on the authority of a friend. 
This gentleman's observations as to the nest being lined with 
feathers , contrary to the account of it in the different systematic 
works, entirely coincide with those of my late friend and relative, 
Mr. Henry Fennell of Ballybrado, in the county of Tipperary. 
This talented young gentleman, who was an ardent ornithologist, 
closely observed a few years since, a bird which appeared to him 
new, and he found both nest and eggs precisely answering the 
description given by Mr. Thompson, in the Annals of Natural 
History (vol. i. p. 22). The nest was profusely lined with 
feathers, and the eggs (two of which are now in my possession) 
quite differently spotted from those of the willow wren, and much 
more densely covered. The bird was larger than either the willow 
wren or chiff-chaff, and whiter underneath," p. vii. These, and 
the preceding notes, do not go farther than affording some circum- 
stantial evidence in favour of the wood wren being a summer 
visitant : — proof is still wanting. 
This bird appears to be pretty generally distributed over Eng- 
land including the west, and is found northward to the middle 
districts of Scotland.* Authors state that it differs from the 
S. trochilus and S. hippolais, by having a decided preference for 
old woods or trees, and these are much less numerous in Ireland 
than in either England or Scotland, which may be one reason for the 
S. sibilatrix not visiting this island like its congeners just named. In 
July, 1826, this species came under my observation in Switzerland. 
* Jard. ; Macg. 
