40 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NIOHTINGALE. 



ble number of the grubs of beetles, which they find among the de- 

 cayed leaves ; also, large moths and ground spiders, together with 

 the smaller ground beetles ; and they are fond of most species of 

 smooth caterpillars, though some they refuse (as that of the common 

 magpie moth. Abraxas glossulariata ) ; as also every sort of hairy 

 one. Small earth-worms, too, they will readily feed on In the wild 

 state, and, in pursuit of them, are easily attracted by turning up a 

 little ground ; but, like the Robin, they will very seldom touch 

 these in confinement, which would imply that they only resorted to 

 them in default of finding food more to their taste. In confine- 

 ment, their most favourite morsel is a house spider, or the grub of a 

 beetle ; and they are greedily fond of large-bodied moths, which 

 latter, after knocking about and beating off the wings, they swallow 

 whole. They always snap instantly at every fly that comes within 

 the precincts of their cage. 



Distribution. — This bird is rather partially distributed over the 

 country, being only found upon the chalky, gravelly, sandy, and, 

 sometimes, upon the clayey, soils ; frequenting the richer w^ooded 

 districts, more particularly when these fringe the banks of rivulets 

 or canals; not that it affects watery situations, like the Reedlings, 

 (or aquatic warblers), for it is found at every distance from them, 

 but is merely attracted by their greater luxuriance of vegetation. 

 It avoids alike both the rocky country and the fen, and though 

 abounding in the woods, shrubberies, and along large double hedges, 

 in the south-eastern counties, it is rarely found so far west as De- 

 vonshire, or to the northward of Doncaster, in Yorkshire ; although 

 on the -continent, it is said to occur plentifully in Sweden, and in 

 the northern parts of Germany. 



Maj/ be influenced, in some degree, by -peculiarities of food. — The 

 ,cause of this restriction has always been considered obscure ; and 

 not improbably it is, in some instances, complex. Montagu ob- 

 served that the young were chiefly fed upon a kind of small, green 

 caterpillar (perhaps, as Selby remarks, that of a TenthredoJ, but he 

 does not particularize the species : and it is possible that these may 

 feed only \ipon some plant, which is limited to certain soils 

 .or situations, or w^hich, at most, may occur only upon partis, 

 cular sedimentary strata. We want, however, some further ob- 

 <seryatian on this subject, in different and distant localities 

 wherein the bird is found ; the which, at any rate, might tend 

 to elucidate any minor and local difficulties that may occur any- 

 where concerning its partial range, and would, probably enough, 

 /umish the clue towards explaining, at once, why any districts are 



