Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/214

 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 Eennell 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, winch 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.