548 
Mr. W. B. Ogilvie-Grant on 
been known to come within nine feet of a stranger (not the 
park-keeper) who offered them bread, and this with a dozen 
people standing by, not a single bird, but five of them 
together. Such tameness is surely extraordinary in the 
case of a wild bird of this description. 
Again, the "Whoopers are quite masters of the Mute 
Swans. They chase the domesticated birds away in their 
eagerness to secure a tit-bit. Even the Whooper cygnets 
can do this. Their antipathy to strange dogs is another 
marked peculiarity, though they are perfectly friendly with 
the park-keeper’s black retriever, because they know it. On 
one occasion a warning “ Honk-Honk” greeted a collie dog 
that was galloping along the river bank. The dog ventured 
into the water, and was promptly chased out of it by the 
Whoopers. And this is not a solitary instance of their 
objection to strange dogs. 
Three of these birds left Carlisle on Sunday, the 26th of 
March last. They were adults, and the five that remained 
comprised two adults and three cygnets. This happens to 
be the last date of which I have any record. 
These particulars are extracted from notes sent to me bv 
Mr. T. L. Johnston, of Carlisle ; the photograph was taken 
by Canon Bovver of the same place. 
XX .—On the Irish Coal-Titmouse (Parus hibernicus). 
By W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 
(Plate X.) 
The absence of a proper series of skins of Irish birds has 
frequently been complained of by those who consult the 
collection in the Natural History Museum, many species, 
especially among the Passeres, being either very poorly repre¬ 
sented or wanting. Por years past I had hoped to make a 
collecting-trip through Ireland in order to rectify this un¬ 
satisfactory state of affairs, but the opportunity for carrying 
