614 Nightingale and Skylark late in Song. 



found that the bird was plucked, was the loss of the wings, 

 the feathers of which I wanted to dress [artificial] flies with. 

 Three days after I had killed this, I saw another of the same 

 species in a ditch adjoining Sir Henry Ibbetson's park at 

 Denton ; but, being in his preserve, I had no opportunity of 

 procuring it. I have never seen one since ; and, until I had 

 seen the sixth edition of Bewick's Birds, I was unable to 

 make out the name ; about which I may still be mistaken. — 

 T. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, May 29. 1834. 



TJie Scolopax Sablni (II. 207.) [in reply to the query 

 there]. The Scolopax Sabim is described and figured in the 

 Linncean Transactions ; but, unhappily, the custom of giving 

 uncoloured plates has been followed in this, as in too many 

 other instances. — Lansdown Guilding. St. Vincent, May I. 

 1830. 



The Nightingale singing in the Winter-time in Britain. — 

 Mr. Newman has related, in V. 654*., that, on December 12., 

 either 1823 or 1824, he " heard the nightingale singing clearly 

 and distinctly, although not very loudly," at Godalming, in 

 Surrey. The poet Cowper has also some stanzas addressed 

 " To the nightingale, which the author heard sing on new 

 year's day, 1792." Mr. Newman has also remarked that he 

 has " frequently seen the nightingale," in the neighbourhood 

 of Godalming, " in October, and once in November." 



Some Skylarks were Singing on the Wing on Sept. 27. 1834, 

 in Scotland. — While I was enjoying a rural walk on the 

 morning of Sept. 27. 1834, with two friends, both keen and 

 accurate observers of the feathered race, our ears were agree- 

 ably, though unexpectedly, saluted by the well-known voice 

 of the skylark, several of which were pouring in mid air their 

 clear and spirit-stirring minstrelsy. So full of sweet enthu- 

 siasm were their effusions, that, had it not been for the dull 

 damp atmosphere, the flutter of falling leaves, and the sad 

 and sterile aspect of the fields, we might have fancied that 

 they were welcoming in that " season of soft delight " when 

 bud and blossom gem the laughing earth. So unusual a cir- 

 cumstance is it, indeed, to hear larks in full song during the 

 moulting season, that my friends averred that a similar instance 

 had never come within their observation ; and they attributed 

 it to the individual birds in question, which were young ones, 

 being of such uncommonly strong and healthy constitution, 

 as had enabled them to get through the moulting easier and 

 earlier than their contemporaries, and that they had been 

 tempted by the mildness of the weather to try the power of 

 their wings, and give vent to their pleasure in the animated 

 accents of their own delightful melody. — William Gardiner, 

 jun. Dundee, Oct. 4. 1834. 



