53 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



orchards below St. Robert's Chapel, on the banks of the 

 River Nidd. Numbers of people went out at night to hear 

 the male bird sing ; I went one night. ... A number of 

 rough lads then threw stones at the birds, and they dis- 

 appeared." A male was heard singing on the banks of the 

 Nidd, half-a-mile below Knaresborough, in May 1902, and 

 in 1903 it was reported near the Crimple, where a nest was 

 found. 



At Ripley, two or three miles N.W. of Knaresborough, 

 a Nightingale was heard singing in 1889. 



In the district about Staveley, I have already quoted 

 the evidence bearing upon the three occurrences which 

 have come under notice ; and Tunstall has told us that 

 in his day it was " frequently heard near Boroughbridge," 

 but a more recent record is the following : "In the 

 spring of 1889 a pair of Nightingales took up their 

 residence in a small wood about a mile from the village 

 of Staveley. The song could be heard on a still evening 

 when more than half-a-mile from the bird's haunt " 

 (Nat. 1889, p. 176). 



Near Ripon, Mr. J. F. Pratt has in his collection an egg 

 of this species which was taken at Bishopton, about a mile 

 [west] from Ripon, on May 22nd 1878, and was brought 

 him by some lads who wished to know what kind of eggs they 

 were. The nest was built in a bush about two or three feet 

 from the ground, and at the first glance had the appearance 

 of an untidy Blackbird's. 



The Nightingale has, however, occurred and bred more 

 than once in the neighbourhood of Thirsk, the most northern 

 limit of its range, save one, or perhaps two, exceptional 

 instances to which allusion will be duly made. 



Regarding its occurrence at Baldersby Park, the Hon. 

 Francis H. Dawnay says that in the summer of 1868 a 

 Nightingale was constantly heard to sing, and attracted 

 a large number of people in the evenings, some driving many 

 miles to hear it. It always sang in the same part of the 

 woods, and it is thought it had a nest near. But this gentle- 



