GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 315 



heard it in the woods by the waterside at Wal- 

 ton Hall, near Wakefield, and have been in- 

 formed of its occurrence five miles to the north- 

 ward of York. 



I had proposed in these " General Observa- 

 tions" to confine attention strictly to the facts 

 disclosed by "The Field Calendar ;" but the 

 subject of the distribution of the Nightingale in 

 England is of such interest to ornithologists, 

 and even to those who, without professing to 

 be naturalists, take a pleasure in listening to the 

 bird, and are not unwilling to learn something 

 about it, that I venture to give an extract 

 from another source which I feel assured will 

 be considered most instructive. 



Writing upon this subject in his new edition 

 of Yarrell's " British Birds," now in course of 

 publication, Prof. Newton says (vol. i. p. 315) : 

 " In England the Nightingale's western limit 

 seems to be formed by the valley of the Exe, 

 though once, and once only, Montagu, on this 

 point an unerring witness, heard it singing on 

 the 4th of May, 1806, near Kingsbridge in 



