The Nightingale. 175 



THE NIGHTINGALE. 



It is a common belief, even among British ornitholo- 

 gists, that this interesting bird does not find its way so 

 far west as our western shires. In the latest edition of 

 " Chamber's Encyclopaedia/' a work usually correct in 

 points of natural history, it is stated that the Nightingale, 

 '* though plentiful in some parts of the south and east of 

 England, does not extend to the western counties." Now, 

 Hereford is surely a western county, and I can answer 

 for it that at this present writing Nightingales may be 

 heard every night, making Penyard Wood vocal with 

 their matchless melody. Its western limit seems to lie 

 somewhere near the longitude of Hereford city itself, and 

 does not reach either Radnor or Brecon. For in lists of 

 birds made out by competent observers, covering districts 

 by the Welsh border, I see no mention of the Nightingale, 

 and its presence in any part of Wales has not yet been 

 chronicled. On the western side of Monmouthshire it 

 is, I believe, also unknown, though where the Wye cuts 

 through the carboniferous rocks in this county, in the 

 valley of the river itself, the bird is a visitor. Inde- 

 pendently of geographical range, it is capricious, or rather 

 it might be called fastidious, in regard to the topography 

 of its haunts and habitat. As, for instance, while Night- 

 ingales may be heard on one side of a hill, or range of 

 hills, they will be silent on the other in other words, 

 they are not there. Penyard is an elongated ridge, full 

 two miles in length; and often, returning home at a late 

 hour of the night, around its southern slope I have heard 

 as many as half a score of these birds in full song ; no 

 two together, but continued along the line of the ridge, 

 each occupying a little ravine or section of its own, which 



