216 THE CLIMATE OF THE NORTH COAST OF WALES. 
Yet imperfect as our lists and collections are, it may be taken 
as proved that there are certain forms which are common to 
the south and east of us, but either wanting or rare in our 
district. Let us take a few birds as an illustration, and confine 
our attention to the Welsh portion of our district, as exhibiting 
the peculiarities of our Climate in their most extreme form. 
Why have we no Nightingale in Wales, or indeed in Cheshire, 
except as a very rare visitor in the extreme south-west corner ? 
As an observer of birds for more than thirty years, and having 
a tolerably perfect knowledge of the notes of all the species 
that occur at all commonly in my own neighbourhood, I may 
venture to say that I have never seen or heard along the Welsh 
Coast from Bagilt to Llandudno, including a considerable range 
inland, any of the following species :— 
Erithacus luscinia—Nightingale. 
Ruticilla phenicurus—Redstart. 
Muscicapa atricapilla—Pied Flycatcher. 
Acrocephalus arundinaceus—Reed Warbler. 
Sitta Cesta—Nuthatch. 
Yet these are all fairly common birds in the south and even 
midland counties. The Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) 
is rare in the neighbourhood of Colwyn Bay; though its 
laughing note may commonly be heard in the London parks 
and squares. So again the Nuthatch, which I have heard in 
Eaton Park, and whose note is so loud and unmistakeable that 
it never fails to arrest my attention in the Southern Counties, 
appears to be entirely absent from the parts of Wales known to 
me ; nor does it appear in Mr. Brocxwotn’s list of the Birds 
of Wirral, published in Part I. of our Proceedings. 
The Sedge Warbler again, so common in Cheshire, is compara- 
tively scarce in Wales. Others of the S. ‘yluiade—the Chiff-Chaff, 
Willow Wren, Wood Wren, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Grass- 
hopper Warbler, and Whitethroat—are common enough, the 
three first-named, very common; so are all the four species of 
Swallow. It therefore appears improbable that scarcity of 
insects should be the cause of the absence of certain species 
of insectivorous birds when other species, equally dependent 
upon insect food, occur abundantly. It would seem rather 
as if it were the direct action of climate on the bird itself. 
The influence of small differences of temperature and humidity 
upon living organisms has never, so far as I know, been 
sufficiently taken into account. Yet it must be vastly more 
important than we imagine if so slight a difference as exists 
(when expressed by degrees of temperature or relative humidity) 
between, say, Chester and Llandudno, should determine whether 
or not it is possible for any given species of bird to exist. 
It is true we are all of us conscious of a difference in our own 
sensations when we go from the one place to the other, but so 
