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THE BIRDS OF WAKEFIELD: 



JFith particulars of the occasional visits of Rare Species^ and of those 

 that have been observed to breed in the neighbourhood. 



From 1845 to the present time. 

 BY WILLIAM TALBOT. 



S YLVIADJE.— (Continued). 



It has often been reported that the Nightingale had been 

 heard in the neighbourhood of Haw Park; although for 21 years 

 I have never failed visiting the park in the night time, for ento- 

 mological purposes during May and June, yet until the spring 

 of 1873 I had not heard it there. On the 19th, 20th, and 21st 

 of May I had the pleasure of seeing a pair, and for several hours 

 each evening was charmed with the song of the male bird. They 

 evidently intended breeding in the wood, but unfortunately their 

 career was cut short by foul play. 



In 1874 two others visited this neighbourhood, both of 

 which I had the pleasure of listening to, for some hours on the 

 11th and 16th of May. In May, 1875, I heard three sing all 

 within eight miles from Wakefield, one of them was unfortu- 

 nately shot by a collier, who imagined that it must be equally 

 attractive in plumage as it was charming in voice, but was 

 greviously disappointed when he obtained possession of it, and 

 threw it away in disgust. 



Mr, T, Lister, of Barnsley, the veteran naturalist, has 

 kindly favoured me with his observations of the Nightingale. 

 He is such a well-known authority on the subject, that I have 

 much pleasure in appending his note : — 



" It is now fifty years since I first heard of a Nightingale 

 being seen in the vicinity of Barnsley. I had not the good 

 fortune to hear one myself until 1842, when I heard it at 

 Edlington. The next I heard was in 1852, at Oscar Wood, 

 and in the following year I heard one in Cobcar Wood, Elsecar. 

 Almost every spring since 1853 I have observed or heard of 

 them in one or other of the following places :— Keresforth 

 ' Wood ; Kitroyd ; Jump ; Day House ; Ethersley Wood ; 

 Needle Eye Wood ; Dodworth Bottom ; Sunny Bank ; New 

 Hall ; Oscar ; Dark Lane and Tivy Dale, at Cawthorne. Since 



