DISTRIBUTION OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 15 



the greater part of its area lies somewhat high for this valley- 

 loving species. This is more especially the case in the north- 

 east of the county, from the Weaver Hills northward, \^here 

 most of the ground is over 1,000 feet above the sea. But even 

 in the south the only really low-lying parts are the Trent 

 valley, that of its tributary the Tame, and along the Derby- 

 shire boundary in the Dove valley from below Burton to Ash- 

 bume, while along the Shropshire boundary the ground falls 

 away again. Between the Trent valley and the Black Country 

 rise the moorlands of Cannock Chase, a great part of which is 

 from 600 to 700 feet high. An analysis of the records of this 

 species from the county, shows that almost all of them are from 

 the valleys referred to or their immediate neighbourhood. 



Beginning from the Birmingham district in the south, 

 although the bird certainly breeds on the Warwickshire side, 

 the occasional notices in local papers of its occurrence to the 

 north of the city seem to require substantiation. To the Trent 

 valley it is, however, an occasional visitor. Dickenson, in 

 1798, wrote that it was sometimes, though very rarely, heard 

 at Weston, but Garner described it as unknown in the Trent 

 valley north of Lichfield. In 1892 the Rev. T. W. Daltry 

 reported its occurrence at Moddershall, but with some reserve, 

 as the locality seemed unsuitable. At Eccleshall, about five 

 miles from the Trent, Dr. McAldowie says, in 1895, that it was 

 heard for a whole season " a few years ago," while at Sandon 

 Mr. Wells Bladen records it as singing in 1883, and also states 

 that it has been heard for two seasons past near Rugeley. 

 Still lower down the valley it bred in Hamstall Ridgware in 

 1897 {ZooL, 1909, p. 75), and in the Burton district, according 

 to Mr. E. Brown, it occurred in considerable numbers about 

 1853, when the song was to be heard in every grove in the 

 neighbourhood. This is confirmed by Sir 0. Mosley, who 

 states that it is neither frequent nor numerous near Tutbury, 

 but that in some years it occurs, occasionally in considerable 

 numbers. When not disturbed, they have been known to 

 return to the same locahty for several seasons, and a definite 

 instance of breeding at Rolleston in 1841 is recorded. Higher 

 up the Dove valley it is of somewhat irregular and uncertain 

 occurrence, but a cock sang at Claymills in 1904, and in the 

 same year at Stramshall, near Uttoxeter, while it is said to 

 have been heard also at Calwich, though most of the records 

 from the upper Dove valley come from the Derbyshire side. 

 On the Shropshire side it has been recorded within a mile of the 

 border, but not as breeding on the Staffordshire side, and an 

 isolated occurrence is reported by Mr. Daltry from Leycett in 

 1889, which seems to require substantiation. 



