176 THE NIGHTINGALE IN DEVONSHIRE. 



pitched out, and within a few inches of their mother's head, as she carefully 

 sat on their murderer, imparting that warmth which, but for his interference, 

 would have nourished her own hapless offspring. 



Another young Cuckoo was found, and put in a cage, into which the poor 

 Titlark immediately followed, and continued to feed it in confinement; but 

 from want of food and attendance they did not survive long: and of many 

 young Cuckoos brought me for preservation, I have been informed that 

 although fully fledged, they were still anxiously attended by the foster-pair of 

 Titlarks. I have heard of one Cuckoo's egg being found near Liskeard, in an 

 Accentor's nest; but the nest being destroyed, I had not an opportunity of 

 identifying it, though from its colour it could scarcely be mistaken there. 



East Looe, Cornwall , August 1st., 1851. 



THE NIGHTINGALE IN DEVONSHIRE, 



BY W. F. W. BIRD, ESQ. 



In Mr. Julian's account of the birds which are summer residents at Plymouth, 

 communicated to "The Naturalist" of this month, he says he has never 

 observed the Nightingale in Devonshire. I hope he will permit me to inform 

 him, that I, and others, have seen that bird in his beautiful county, though 

 I know that the general impression is in accordance with his own observation. 

 It appears, at first sight, very strange that in a county possessing not only a 

 mild climate, but much water, and every kind of soil and vegetation, a bird 

 should not be found which is so common in almost every other part of 

 England. The best of our modern ornithologists agree, however, with Mr. 

 Julian; but Willughby says that "^Nightingales are very frequent in summer- 

 time in the south part of England, but in the north more rare." Pennant, 

 on the authority of the Cornish historian, Borlase, observes that "it is re- 

 markable that this bird does not emigrate so far as Cornwall, a county so 

 very mild that myrtles flourish in the open air during the whole year." But 

 he does not exclude Devon. Col. Montagu says "Nightingales are not found 

 farther west than the eastern borders of Devonshire, although they are plentiful 

 both in Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. Why they should not be found in 

 all the wooded parts of Devon and Cornwall, which appear equally calculateil 

 for their residence, both from the mildness of the air and variety of ground, 

 is beyond the naturalist's penetration." He then refers to, and rather countenances, 

 some fancied connexion between Nightingales and cowslips. Mr. Yarrell 

 allows the bird to be found "in the eastern part only of Devonshire, about 

 Exmouth, and no farther west in that direction;" and "that it has been 

 heard near Barnstaple, in North Devon." However justly great the authority 

 of these writers, yet when we see them defining such arbitrary, not to say 

 fanciful, geographical limits, to the visits of a bird of passage, one can hardly 

 help thinking that perhaps observers may be wanting, in Devonshire, as well 

 as Nightingales. 



