BIRDS OF THE WOODLANDS 6 



o 



of the Scotch firs. As the summer wanes they haunt 

 the hawthorn hedge by the roadside, leaving the 

 interior of the copse, and may often be seen on the 

 dry and dusty sward." 



The distribution of the Nightingale in England is 

 most erratic. That a line drawn across York- 

 shire should roughly define its northern limit 

 is not surprising. Climatic and other considera- 

 tions might be put forward to explain its tendency 

 to cling to the south. But why are the south-western 

 counties, the lovely glades and coppices of Corn- 

 wall and West Devon, for example, rich as they 

 would seem in all that goes to make the Nightin- 

 gale's most favoured environment, so severely 

 tabooed by a bird which arrives in its thousands in 

 each recurring spring upon so long a line of the 

 southern coast? This is one of the recurring 

 problems in avian history, of which no solution, 

 based either on climatic conditions or on the ever- 

 convenient food supply, appears to be forthcoming. 



That the Nightingale has some deep-seated reason 

 for its constancy to certain localities and its neglect 

 of others, finds confirmation in the failure of all 

 attempts to extend its range. It is recorded that 

 Mr. T. Penrice obtained many birds from Norfolk 

 which he liberated in his woods near Swansea, and 

 Sir John Sinclair, in Caithness, succeeded in rear- 

 ing large numbers, by placing the eggs procured 

 from Surrey in the nests of Robins. In all cases 

 the birds disappeared in September, never to return. 



In Continental Europe the Nightingale is 

 unequally diffused, being abundant in some local- 

 ities, notably in parts of France and Spain, and 



