xigiitiN(;ai,e. loi 



At Ripley, two or three miles N.W. of Knaresborougb, Mr. 

 Riley Fortune heard a Nightingale singing in 1889. Two 

 things were particularly noticeable about the song, one being 

 that at the beginning of many bars the bird uttered the alarm 

 note of the Willow ^^^ren, and so perfect was this that several 

 times the observer was deceived and thought there was a Willow 

 ^^'ren in close proximity. The other was the dragging in now 

 and then of the harsh note of the Sedge Warbler. The song had 

 the 'water-bubble' note to perfection, and several long drawn- 

 out notes were exquisite in their melody; they seemed to denote 

 'eternal passion, eternal pain.' One series of notes gave the 

 impression that someone had the bird in his hand and was 

 crushing the life out of its little body' (Naturalist, June, 1889, 

 p. 176).— T.H.N. 



In the district about Staveley we have already quoted the 

 evidence of the Rev. E. P. Knubley bearing upon the three 

 occurrences which have come under his notice ; and Tunstall 

 has told us that in his day it was 'frequently heard near 

 Boroughbridge.'— W.E.C. 



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 birds' haunt' (Rev. E. P. Knubley, Naturalist, June, 

 1889, p. 176).— T.H.N. 



Regarding its occurrence near Ripon, Mr. J. F. Pratt says 

 in a letter to the writer, ' among the rarer varieties of the family 

 Sylviidse, I have in my collection an egg of the Nightingale 

 which was taken at Bishopton, about a mile [West] from Ripon, 

 on May 22nd, 1878. They were brought me by some lads who 

 , wished to know what kind of eggs they were. I found on 

 examining the nest that it was built in a bush about a yard or 

 two feet from the ground, and at the first glance had the appear- 

 ance of an untidy Blackbird's.' 



