MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 63 



12th. of October, as I suppose you allude to a communication of mine, 

 to the "Zoologist" vol. iv., page 1555, in which page the capture of a 

 young one at Worcester is mentioned; there is a slight error, mine was 

 not a young one, but a mature full-grown one. I have not heard of any 

 about this neighbourhood since — a few years previously there had been a 

 great many driven up the estuary of the Severn, and were seen as high 

 up the river as Worcester; (I will try to ascertain where the fact is 

 recorded, and if I find it in time for the next month's "Naturalist," I 

 will forward the account,) we had some flocks about here at that time, 

 at the "Fish Ponds," two long narrow reservoirs, about a mile long each, 

 and from twenty to two hundred yards wide, situate in a mountain gorge, 

 about fifteen or sixteen miles in a direct line from Bristol Channel, and 

 at an elevation above high-water, of four hundred yards, which makes 

 their visits the more unexpected. — James Bladon. 



The Kittiwahe Gull. — In the same miscellany I have recorded the cap" 

 ture of a specimen of the above Gull near this town, which was so far 

 exhausted as to be taken by hand. — Idem. 



The Nightingale. — In your "History of British Birds," vol. iii, page 199, 

 you state that none of the above birds are found in Wales; Broderip, 

 in his "Zoological Recreations," page 64, (edition 1849,) also states, "the 

 Welshman, it is said, never hears it in the Principality, though a poetical 

 license has made it vocal there," but in a note corrects himself, it having 

 been heard in the county of Glamorgan, and gives the letter in the ap- 

 pendix, page 383-4. I also find allusions in other authors to the same 

 effect, which I do not quote as they all proceed upon the same hear-say 

 evidence; my object in writing this note is to controvert that opinion upon 

 several grounds. In the first place a question arises, is this county to be 

 considered as forming part of Wales, or not? Although it is included in 

 the circuit of the English judges, and so far may be considered a part 

 of England^ yet in its geographical and geological features it is evidently 

 a part of .Wales; and, in addition to its physical conformation, the lan- 

 guage, manners, and customs of its inhabitants equally claim it as Wales. 

 I can claim for miles around the neighbourhood the honour of being one 

 of the most favoured haunts of the celebrated singer of the night; and 

 as only one parish intervenes between here and the county of Glamorgan, 

 (undoubtedly Wales upon any hypothesis,) I can hardly believe that it 

 can be so extremely local, as to- be so very abundant here, and none a 

 few miles distant. There have been many instances of its being reared 

 from the nest and caged, with success. I well remember some years ago 

 walking from Newport to Pont-y-pool, on a summer's night; we started 

 about ten o'clock, and came along the canal side, (which runs near the 



