DISTRIBUTION OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 11 



did not succeed in rearing any young. This seems to be the 

 only occurrence of the Nightingale in Carmarthenshire. 



Cardiganshire. — In the Field for July 9th, 1910, Mr. 

 Max A. Wright records the fact that in the previous June he 

 heard a Nightingale singing three miles south of Tregaron 

 (presumable in the valley of the Teifi). The recorder appears 

 to be well acquainted with the bird's song in Glamorganshire, 

 and Mr. Harold Evans has also written to us about the record, 

 which he describes as " quite authentic," so that in spite of the 

 fact that the locality is far to the north-west of any previous 

 record, it may, we think, be trusted. This individual bird was, 

 of course, only a casual wanderer, and a single record such as 

 this cannot be taken as indicating any real extension of range. 



Brecknockshire. — With regard to this county, it seems 

 clear from a consideration of the bird's distribution in Here- 

 fordshire and Monmouthshire, and the general physical features 

 of the country, that if the Nightingale is to occur here at all, 

 it would be most likely to do so either along the Usk or along 

 one of the feeders of the Wye. On turning to Mr. Cambridge 

 Phillips's Birds of Brecon, we find that this is pretty well 

 what does happen, for there he refers to a popular local saying, 

 that the Nightingale is never heard to the west of the Bwlch 

 (i.e. about eight miles east of Brecon), and adds that although 

 he has heard the bird near Brecon, he is disposed to believe 

 that there is a great deal of truth in the saying. 



At the same time, the normal northern range of the 

 Nightingale in the Usk Valley is some considerable distance 

 south of the Brecon border, while on the Herefordshire border 

 on the Wye the bird is quite rare, so that it is not to be expected 

 that it should occur in any numbers, or with any regularity, 

 even in that portion of Brecon defined above. This is well 

 illustrated in the case of the pair of birds referred to in the 

 Birds of Brecon, which nested at Talgarth in the north-east of 

 the county a few years prior to 1899 ; they did not appear the 

 following year, but the same or another pair did a year or two 

 later, and continued to do so on and off, as Mr. Cambridge 

 PhilHps informs us, up till 1907 ; since then he has not heard 

 one, nor heard of one being seen. 



From the rest of the county we have no certain information 

 of the Nightingale ever having occurred, but should it do so it 

 is only likely to be an odd straggler. 



Herefordshire. — In H. G. Bull's Birds of Herefordshire, 

 pubHshed in 1888, the Nightingale is described as varying much 

 in numbers, not at all abundant, and almost confined to the 

 southern half of the county. In 1889 Mr. T. Hutchinson 



