ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 39 



country in autumn: it returned to the same place the following 

 spring, where I recognised it by its bad song ; and it remained in 

 the neighbourhood all the summer, and bred up a nest of young 

 ones." From this, I think we may fairly infer that the song of a 

 Nightingale is formed during the first winter, and cannot be im- 

 proved afterwards. 



Some female birds occasionally sing. — Mr. Sweet continues — *' A 

 female that I had also been keeping for six years, to see if she 

 would breed, I also turned out along with him ; but whether she 

 ■came back and was partner in the nest, I cannot say, as I had no 

 mark to know her by. This female I kept four years, and it never 

 attempted to sing ; the fifth year it sang frequently, a pretty, soft. 

 Nightingale's note. I have found this to be the case with several 

 female birds ; they do not sing till they become aged : but it is not 

 an unexceptionable rule, as I have had a female Willow Wren that 

 sang when quite young." The Nightingale quits the nest very 

 early (as is the case with most other ground-building birds), and 

 both sexes warble to themselves, even before their tails have grown 

 to the full length. The young females generally continue to do 

 this, but in a weaker and more unconnected way than the young 

 males, till the following spring, when they gradually leave off re- 

 wording, as this sort of singing is termed, by amateurs. 



Longemty. — INI. Bechstein observes of the male Nightingale, in 

 confinement, that " after they have reached six years, they begin to 

 sing less frequently and long, with less brilliancy and ornament. 

 '* It is then," he continues, ** better to set them at liberty, in the 

 month of May. The open air often invigorates them so much, that 

 they regain their song, in all its force and beauty." I question very 

 much, however, how M. Bechstein contrived to identify his birds ; 

 for, in my opinion, a caged Nightingale set at liberty, in the month 

 of May, would, to a certainty, proceed northward ; and the altera- 

 tion in the song, it will be noticed, tends rather to corroborate this 

 view of the subject. The same author asserts that a Nightingale 

 may, by proper management, be kept in confinement fifteen years ; 

 and he mentions one instance of an individual having attained the 

 age of twenty-five years, in captivity. 



Food. — The food of the Nightingale consists almost entirely of 

 insects .and their larvae, and, towards the end of the season, they eat 

 elder-berries, and sometimes currants, which, like Robins, they 

 swallow whole ; but they never attack larger fruit, nor will they 

 touch it in confinement, if placed in the cage. Their subsistence is 

 chiefly sought for upon the ground, where they devour a considera- 



