20 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Lincolnshire. — Lincolnshire has yet no separate history 

 of its fauna, and it has been somewhat difficult to obtain the 

 requisite information on which to base an account of this 

 bird's distribution. To the Rev. F. L. Blathwayt and Mr. 

 R. B. Lodge we are mainly indebted for the information here 

 given. 



There seems to be no doubt that the Nightingale has increased 

 considerably in numbers over most of the county during the 

 last thirty years, a.nd even slightly during the last ten, and it 

 seems not unhkely that the latitude of Lincoln would nearly 

 represent its northern limit fifty years ago. In the north-east 

 of the county at any rate a definite extension has taken place 

 in the last forty years. It is not included in a list of birds 

 found at Swinehope, pubHshed in the Naturalist for 1852, and 

 John Cordeaux, in his Birds of the Number District, puts its 

 arrival in this part of the count}^ at about 1870. 



At the present time the Nightingale seems to be scattered 

 sparingly over the greater part of the county, where there are 

 suitable haunts. It is really abundant in the larger woodlands, 

 especially round Lincoln, and in the middle and south-west of 

 the county generally. In the " fen " country of the south- 

 east it is naturally uncommon, as it is also in the marsh 

 country in the north-east between the Wolds and the sea. In 

 the north-west its numbers appear to be smaller than in the 

 centre of the county, but it occurs regularly in the large wooded 

 tract about Brigg in the north. On the Wolds its visits would 

 appear to be irregular, and its haunts more widely scattered, 

 but further information about this district is desirable. 



YoRKSHmE. — The distribution of the Nightingale in this 

 important part of its range has been so lately dealt with, and in 

 such an able manner, by Mr. T. H. Nelson in his Birds of York- 

 shire, that it is hardly necessary to do more here than to give a 

 condensed summary of what he there says. It is only 

 necessary to add that since this book was published nothing 

 has occurred, Mr. Nelson informs us, to lead him to suggest 

 any modification of that account. 



Like Mr. D'Urban in Devonshire, at the extreme south-west 

 of the bird's range, Mr. Nelson expresses a decided opinion 

 that here, on the northward fringe, the Nightingale has not 

 extended its range within the time when this could be definitely 

 traced. He points out that, contrary to what was once 

 beUeved, further research has revealed the fact that over one 

 hundred years ago the bird bred pretty regularly, probably as 

 regularly, at the northern point of its range, as it does to-day. 

 Mr. Nelson also points out that, although it has been known to 



