Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/164

 to sit on the eggs until the brood was produced. Two of the young were taken out of the nest when they were ready to be transferred to a cage, but the thrush nevertheless continued to tend the remaining three, until they all took wing. A grey-linnet's nest containing young was put in a cage, into which the parent bird went regularly to feed them. The cage was then moved gradually nearer and nearer to the cottage, until at last brought within doors, whither the parent bird followed and fed the young.

Sky-larks have frequently been known to follow their nests when shifted by boys from place to place — occasionally several times in a day — across a field, or until the young were put in a cage, and placed beside the cottage. The parent lark then alighted on a little piece of board placed outside the cage as a perch for her, and from it, fed the young regularly through the wires. In such instances, the cottages were in the fields. In other cases, when the young were so far advanced as not to require the warmth derived from the parent sitting on the nest, this was rodded over to prevent their escape when fledged, and the old bird came and fed them. Both these practices respecting sky- larks, and more especially the former one, were common some years ago in the county of Down.

the north, it generally arrives about the middle of October,* sometimes early in the month ; and remains until the beginning or middle of April : to the end of this month its departure was

A sporting friend remarks that he never saw redwings so plentiful any where as at Aberarder, Inverness-shire, from the end of the first week, until the 18th of October, 1840.