348 A HISTORY OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 



gale's stanzas ; but he may sometimes be heard warbling most deliciously in a 

 lower tone than usual, and without those frequent pauses of which we have some 

 reason to complain. In common, however, with some other birds, and particularly 

 the Blackcap and Reed Warbler, the Nightingale never sings so pertinaciously 

 as when it instinctively thus endeavours to absorb the attention of an intruder 

 near its nest. Thus, Mr. Conway narrates : — " I was diverted from my object 

 by the melodies of a Nightingale almost close at my sides. The singing was in 

 one continuous, incessant, and uninterrupted melody ; there were none of those 

 frequent breaks, which are so characteristic of the song of the Nightingale, when 

 heard at a little distance ; it was one incessant warble. I can hardly call it a 

 warble either ; it was an unceasing effort ; so much so, that I stood perfectly 

 astonished, and at a loss to conceive how it was possible for so small a creature 

 to exert itself so mightily. I began, however, to think that the nest of the 

 melodist could not be far off; and, as I had never yet seen the nest of the bird, 

 I determined to watch him closely, in order to discover it. But I was nearly 

 giving up the search as useless ; for as soon as I entered the copse, no matter at 

 what part I made my entrance, the warbler was at my side, delighting me with 

 its melody, and hopping from spray to spray, and from bush to bush, and thus 

 leading me the round of the wood at pleasure. When, however, all hope of 

 finding the nest had nearly vanished, I fell in with it by pure accident ; and I 

 then discovered that the singing of the bird had always led me in a direction 

 from the nest." The Blackcap, and common Thrush, however, will occasionally 

 thus sing, even while sitting on the eggs, and so occasion the discovery of the 

 object of their anxiety. But the Nightingale ordinarily pours forth his bewitch- 

 ing music at some distance from where his mate is incubating, whence this toit 

 in his character is comparatively seldom witnessed. His song ceases about the 

 period of the exclusion of the young, or early in June, but, as before stated, is 

 continued somewhat longer by night than by day, as in the instance, likewise, of 

 the Reed Warbler's hurried chirrups ; and from this time a very plaintive cry 

 (resembling the sound kweep), which is common to both sexes, together with their 

 usual harsh croak, is reiterated on all occasions when they apprehend danger. 



" The croaking of the Nightingale in June and the end of May," remarks Mr. 

 Knapp (the observant author of the deservedly popular Journal of a Naturalist), 

 " is not occasioned by the loss of voice, but by a change of note — a change of 

 object. His song ceases when his mate has hatched her brood ; vigilance, 

 anxiety, caution, now succeed to harmony, and his croak is the hush, the warn- 

 ing of danger or suspicion, to the infant charge and the mother bird." Now all 

 this is wrong ; for the Nightingale croaks at all seasons ; and captive Nightin- 

 gales, which have no nestlings to provide for, invariably discontinue singing at 

 precisely the same period as the wild birds. They naturally breed once only in 



