38 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NIGHTINGALE^ 



the ground, or on some equally solid foundation. Still, I think that 

 it is as well just to mention the foregoing passage in M. Bechstein's 

 work, as this author is, in general, extremely accurate in what he 

 advances. 



The Nightingale has bred iti conJi?iement. — There have been some 

 instances recorded of the Nightingale breeding in captivity ; and I 

 have been informed, by a friend whose veracity is not to be ques- 

 tioned, that himself once succeeded in pairing a Nightingale with a 

 female Redbreast, which latter produced four eggs, but unfortu- 

 nately died egg-bound, when about to lay a fifth. It is a pity 

 that these eggs were not placed under some other bird, as the hy- 

 brids would have been extremely interesting, in more points of view 

 than one. 



Moult. — This species moults its plumage but once in the year, to- 

 wards the close of summer ; and the young (as in all other dentiros^ 

 tral birds)* sheds all its first feathers, with the exception of the 

 wing and tail primaries, very soon after leaving the nest, assuming 

 the garb and appearance of the adult bird some time before it quits 

 us for a warmer region. 



Its Songj as in the Thrush genusj is not wholly innate, — It is a 

 fact, very well worthy of remark, that young Nightingales, reared 

 from the nest, or caught before they leave us in the autumn, (unless 

 brought up under an old bird), are never known to display the 

 splendid musical attainments of those which come over in the 

 spring: which proves that, in this particular species, the song is for 

 the most part acquired, rather than innate ; as is also the case with 

 the different Thrushes, — those which are brought up in cities, 

 where they cannot hear their free brethren, never repeating the 

 true wild notes of their kind, but intermingling with such notes as 

 they do sing, a variety of strange noises which they hear from the 

 street. Accordingly, it has been observed by IMr. Sweet, (and I 

 could mention many instances in corroboration,) that " a young 

 Nightingale is apt to catch all that it hears, and to be deficient of 

 many of the ordinary notes of its species. I had one," he relates, 

 " for three years, and it never sang a stave worth listening to,— the 

 year before last I turned it out, Qhe should have stated at what 

 season of the year, but I should opine towards the close of summer], 

 and it continued in the gardens round the house until it left the 



• The Mufflin, (Mecisfura vulgaris), and the Bearded Pinnock, CCa- 

 lamophibis biarmicusjj are in so far exceptions to this generalization, that they 

 •hed, during the first autumn, the primary feathers of the tail, but not those 

 of the wingg. 



