Western Nightingales -
No little excitement has been roused in Hereford by the arrival of a very *beat nightingale. It has not been known in the past either in the west or north of England ; and the theory is that it is an indifferent flier which crosses the sea only where the channel is comparatively narrow and thereafter spreads out as a fan ; but is not numerous enough to be driven, like the Celts, into western and northern extremities. It appeared last year in parts of Devon previously denied to it ;
and this Hereford pair is perhaps further evidence that it is
following the example of the Comma butterfly and greatly extending its range in our island. It is certainly a good nightingale year. I was invited (in the confines of Oxford) to a " sherry and nightingale party," inspired by the splendid singing of a bird in a little wood close beside the house of the host. The party was perhaps given with a little diffidence ; for it was to begin, at ten o'clock and this nightingale is never at its best till two in the morning. However, it was hoped that the full moon would inspire the singer and it would not be necessary to continue the entertainment till the small hours. Nightingales will, of course, sing at any hour almost of the day or the night ; but one enquirer, at any rate, has multiplied proof that their golden hour is round about two a.m. *
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