NIAS NILE. 167 



Willughby (1678) have Nightingale. Shakespeare and 

 many of the other early poets allude to this species as 

 Philomel (which see for an explanation of the classical 

 allusion). It was locally believed, according to Dyer, 

 that there were no Nightingales at Havering-atte-Bower, 

 Essex, because of a legend that Edward the Confessor, 

 being interrupted by them in his meditations, prayed that 

 their song might never be heard again. It has also been 

 said that Nightingales have never been heard in Yorkshire, 

 but as a matter of fact the species does occur in that county, 

 although rarely, it being the northernmost limit of its 

 range. Similarly in Devonshire the species is met with in 

 the south-eastern portion of the county, but I think has 

 never been known to occur in the west. Andrew Boord 

 (" Book of Knowledge ") relates a curious belief that in the 

 Forest of Saint I^eonards in Sussex "there doth never singe 

 nightingale, althoughe the Foreste round about in tyme of 

 the yeare is replenyshed with nightingales ; they wyl singe 

 round about the Foreste and never within the precincte 

 of the Foreste." This bird was formerly popularly sup- 

 posed to arrive with the CUCKOO (with which it is much 

 connected in folk-lore) on the 14th of April. 



NIGHTJAR [No. 202]. This name appears to have been fixed 

 for the species through its adoption by Yarrell (1843), 

 although it was previously used by Bewick (1797). The 

 bird occurs in Merrett, Willughby and subsequent authors 

 to Montagu under the name of Goatsucker (q.v.). Montagu 

 gives Nightjar as a provincial name. For the popular 

 beliefs regarding this species, see under " Goatsucker " and 

 also " Puckeridge." In Nidderdale the country people say 

 these birds embody the souls of unbaptised infants doomed 

 to wander for ever in the air (according to Macquoid), and 

 call them " Gabble -ratchets " (q.v.). 



NIGHT OWL : The LITTLE OWL. (Merrett.) 



NIGHT RAVEN: The NIGHT-HERON (q.v.). Also ascribed to 

 the BITTERN. 



NIGHT SINGER: The SEDGE-WARBLER. (Ireland; Sed- 

 bergh, Yorkshire.) From its singing at night. 



NIGHT SPARROW : The SEDGE-WARBLER. (Cheshire.) 



NIGHT SWALLOW: The NIGHTJAR. From its nocturnal 

 habits, and because it hawks flies like a Swallow. 



NIGHT WARBLER : The REED-WARBLER. (Bewick.) 

 NILE-BIRD : The WRYNECK. (Berks., Bucks.) 



