NIGHTINGALE. 97 



In the Central Plain, about York and district, AUis reported 

 in 1844 that it 'was heard in the immediate suburbs of York 

 last spring; has been met with at Skelton, about five miles north 

 of the city some years ago, it breeds every year in the Wood at 



Caywood ; it occurs at and Bramham Park.' 



Regarding its occurrence within the city my friend Mr. James 

 P)ackhouse, Junr. informed me that it has nested once in their 

 garden at Holgate. The Rev. F. W. Hayden, of Skelton Rectory, 

 wrote me in 1880, that 'the Nightingale is plentiful, com- 

 paratively speaking, in Skelton. I possess several eggs of that 

 species taken here, and have had nests in my hand, but, as I 



have made no record, I can give no dates I know that 



it resorts to Mr. Dawnay's wood, called Skelton Springs, half-a- 

 mile from my house on the north, and to a wood called Nova 



Scotia in this parish, one mile to the east of my house 



The Nightingale has been noticed in Skelton from of old. I 

 have no reason to beHeve otherwise than that it is of annual 

 occurrence. I only once Imew of two pairs at the same time, 

 but I have not sought for them.' To the Hon. Payan Dawnay 

 the writer is indebted for the following interesting communi- 

 cation relating to the Nightingale at Beningborough, and other 

 places in the neighbourhood; writing in November, 1880, he 

 says: 'I have not heard a Nightingale at Beningborough [eight 

 miles N.'\\\ of York] for some years. The instance of one being 

 heard for two years here some few years ago arose from one 

 being caught in a small wood close to the railroad near Shipton 

 and being brought to me as an unknown bird by the captor; I 

 found it answered the description of a Nightingale and turned 

 it out into the garden [at Beningborough]. The next year [1867], 

 one of the last days of May, 28th or 29th, I forget which, I 

 heard a Nightingale singing in a plantation about 300 yards from 

 the place I turned out the one brought to me the year previous. 

 This bird continued singing in June, for part of that month, 

 that other people heard it as well as myself. The next year 

 [1868] after this I heard a Nightingale in a small wood perhaps 



B 7 



