DISTRIBUTION OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 9 



known, numerous, and increasing visitor. West of Taunton 

 its numbers begin to thin out, and it becomes scarce to the 

 west of Mil vert on and Welhngton, while about fifteen miles 

 west of Taunton, near the Devonshire border, it is almost, if 

 not quite, unknown. In the Exmoor country and the adjacent 

 district as far east as the Quantocks, the Nightingale is quite 

 unknown, and correspondents long acquainted with this area 

 inform us that they have never known of one being seen or 

 heard. The only exceptions to this statement are the recent 

 records from the neighbourhood of Minehead, on the north 

 coast, and these furnish interesting evidence of the westward 

 spread of this bird — thus they were heard at Carhampton, four 

 miles east of Minehead, in 1900, and at Dunster, two miles east 

 of Minehead, and Tivington, two miles west of that town, 

 in 1903. This last would appear to be the farthest westward 

 point at which the Nightingale has bred in Somerset. 

 The Rev. R. Chichester, of Minehead, now informs us that in 

 1905 or 1906 there were at least five pairs of birds close by 

 Dunster, but that, although in most years now there is one 

 pair about Dunster or Carhampton, its visits are not yet 

 regular, and some seasons pass without a Nightingale being 

 heard. Reports from the Porlock neighbourhood, slightly 

 further west, appear to lack substantiation. 



Gloucestershire. — The distribution of the Nightingale in 

 this county has been worked out as recently as 1902 by Mr. 

 W. L. Mellersh, in his Treatise on the Birds of Gloucester, so that 

 it is not necessary to do more here than summarize what he 

 there says. He points out very clearly that the distribution 

 is entirely dependent on the physical conditions of the country. 

 On the Cotswolds, as a whole, the bird is scarce, while on the 

 higher portions, although there are many snug valleys with 

 copses apparently suitable for it, it is a great rarity, owing, 

 probably to the frosty nights of April and May at this elevation. 

 In the north-west of the county it is not common in the woods 

 themselves, but outside, amongst the open valleys and copses 

 between the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury, it is more 

 numerous than in any other part. In the Severn Vale, while it 

 is only less numerous than about Tewkesbury, its haunts are 

 chiefly confined to a narrow belt between the Cotswolds and 

 the Vale, including the little valleys that ascend a short way 

 up into the hills. 



Monmouthshire. — For information about this county we 

 are mainly indebted to Mr. Iltyd Gardner, of Abergavenny, 

 who states that the Nightingale is distributed fairly regularly 

 all over Monmouthshire for so irregular a bird. It is clear, 



