10 BRITISH BIRDS. 



however, from the details which he gives, that as in Hereford- 

 shire, its distribution is mainly dependent upon the river- 

 valleys ; thus it occurs most frequently and abundantly in 

 the Wye Valley, on the eastern border of the county, and thence 

 less abundantly along the Herefordshire border formed by the 

 Monnow, as far as the outlying locahties mentioned under the 

 latter county. Nightingales are also fairly numerous along 

 the valley of the Usk as far north as Llanover, a few miles 

 south of Abergavenny, and occur, and have done so for more 

 than thirty years, according to Mr. R. C. Banks, as regular 

 visitors in some numbers around Newport, in the lower part of 

 the valley. It seems probable from Mr. Gardner's statements, 

 that the Nightingale is found sporadically in suitable localities 

 along the several branches of the river Usk between Newport 

 and Abergavenny, but exact information is wanting, as it is 

 also for the western mining district, though as regards this 

 locality, the presence of the bird is perhaps less probable. 



Glamorganshire. — The Nightingale seems to have made 

 its first appearance in Glamorganshire about the year 1868, 

 and there is no doubt that it has gradually established itself, 

 and has increased largely in numbers, especially during the 

 last ten years, in the south-east of the county. It has often 

 been stated that Bridgend forms the westward limit of its 

 range, but there are records of its breeding in several localities, 

 within the last three years, between Bridgend and Port Talbot, 

 so that the bird ^^•ould appear to be slowly spreading along 

 the coast. 



The distribution in Glamorgan would seem to resemble 

 somewhat that in Devonshire. Thus it occurs in all the river- 

 vallej^s between the eastern boundary and Port Talbot, about 

 as far inland as the Great Western Railway line from Cardiff 

 to Bridgend, and at many suitable spots near the coast within 

 this boundary. It is specially numerous in the Vale of 

 Glamorgan, round Beaupre and Llandough, round Cardiff 

 (where its numbers have been put, in 1910, at between twenty 

 and thirty pairs, within a seven mile radius of the centre of the 

 city), and in the flat country to the north of Cardiff about 

 Llanishen. In the latter district the Nightingale ranges 

 further north than elsewhere in the county, and has been 

 reported within the last three years from the Rhonnda Valley. 

 Reports from further west, in the Swansea neighbourhood, 

 have not yet been verified. 



Carmarthenshire. — Mr. A. Gw^^lne Vaughan informs us 

 that, in the year 1898 a pair of Nightingales built a nest and 

 laid eggs, five miles north of Llandover}^ in this county, but 



