126 CHIF* CHAFF. 
It occurs in Wales also, and in Ireland in certain localities 
from north to south; in a few places near Belfast, in the 
counties of Down and Antrim, and near Cushendall, to the 
north of the latter; and in the park of Shane’s Castle, about 
Bryansford, and Rostrevor, in the former; in the county of 
Dublin, at Glasnevin and the Phenix Park; near Clonmel, 
Cloghcen, and Waterford; Castle Warren and Glengariff, in 
the county of Cork; and has once been obtained near Tralee, 
in Kerry. 
It inhabits groves, woods, coppices, beds of reeds, gardens, 
the sides of small streams where trees grow, such as, in the 
latter situations, the alder and the aspen, and in the former 
the oak, the fir, and the birch. Among these it may be 
seen in the early vernal season, in sheltered places, searching 
among the boughs and branches for its food, and emitting 
at intervals its shrill note. 
This is one of the earliest of our summer, or rather of our 
spring visitants, arriving here the end of March, or the 
beginning of April. Some have been seen, by Montagu, so 
early as the 12th. and the 14th. of the former month, and 
several by the 20th. He also once saw one about Christmas, 
in 1802: near Swansea it has been heard on the 30th. of 
January. In Devonshire it arrived in the year 1851 on 
March 21st., 1848 on March 28rd., and in 1849 on March 
18th., and commonly is seen or heard from the 25th. to the 
29th.; one was shot near Torquay on the 10th. of January, 
1851. In Kent it has been known on the 24th., in the 
year 1851, and in Bedfordshire by George B. Clarke, Hsq., 
on the 22nd. of that month, in 1852. In Oxfordshire on 
the 25th., by the Revs. A. and H. Matthews, and in Yorkshire 
on the banks of the Don, near Sproitborough, the scat of 
Sir Joseph Copley, Bart., by Peter Inchbald, Esq. It leaves 
us also late, not till the beginning of October, giving us a 
longer stay than most others; some few however have been 
known to remain in the southern counties, having been met 
with at all seasons of the year; and Mr. Macgillivray had 
one, killed near Newhaven, in January, 1836. It is somewhat 
uncertain in its appearance, many appearing in one year, while 
not an individual is to be seen the next. It is very possible 
that those individuals which have been noticed at so early a 
date in the year have remained in this country through the 
winter. In Ireland, its earliest recorded arrival is the 3rd. 
of April, and on the 7th. of that month it was seen in 1838 
