8 



OCCURRENCE OF THE NIGHTINGALE NEAR 



HUDDERSFIELD. 



To persons in this locality it may seem almost unnecessary to write 

 anything more about the Nightingale which visited Mollicar Wood, 

 near Farnley Tyas, this spring, but it was thought desirable to have 

 some account of it in the first number of this journal. 



According to several persorfs who live near the above wood, the 

 notes of this charming songster were first heard on the night of May 

 5th. During the first fortnight after its arrival, the Nightingale 

 frequented various parts of the wood, in which to pour forth its 

 melodious strains, and when disturbed by the too near approach of 

 listeners, it frequently flew unnoticed and in silence to resume its song 

 at a little distance. After that time it located itself each night in 

 the same bush, which was ten or twelve feet high. It usually began 

 its song about ten o'clock, and sung until daybreak, and was also 

 occasionally heard and seen, along with its mate, in the daytime, by 

 those living in the vicinity of Mollicar Wood. 



I heard this Nightingale on three different nights, and once I crept 

 under the bush where it was singing, but owing to the thickness of 

 the foliage, could not see it, till it fluttered from one side of the bush 

 to the other. I heard it for the last time between twelve and one 

 o'clock on the night of June 2nd, remaining after numbers of people 

 had left the place; then, when all was quiet, its song burst forth with 

 even more fulness and fewer pauses than before. It was last heard 

 to sing on the night of June 6th. 



Various rumours and suppositions are afloat concerning the sudden 

 disappearance of this Nightingale, but, as yet, nothing satisfactory 

 has been ascertained as to its fate. Its nest has been searched for by 

 some, but I believe it has not been found. Great numbers of people 

 have been to hear this splendid songster, its notes being quite new 

 to them, for the Nightingale has not been heard in this district for 

 twenty-five or thirty years. 



July 2nd, 1875. J. E. Palmer, Huddersfield. 



[We should be glad of any authentic information as to the fate of this 

 bird, and whether any of the rumours are correct. — Eds. Nat.] 



