ON THE HABITS OF THE BRAKE NIGHTINGALEc 397 



sound of music. When once our songster has fairly entered upon 

 his strains, it is extremely difficult to disturb him. I have fre- 

 quently for the sake of experiment, thrown a stone into the very 

 bush where he was performing, ajjparently without producing 

 the slightest eft'ect; and have approached within two or three 

 feet of the branch on which he was perched, without his appear- 

 ing to heed me in the least; on making a nearer approach, 

 however, the song ceased for a few moments, and then recom- 

 menced at the distance of about ten yards off. When disturbed 

 in this manner, the peculiar guttural sound is frequently emitted, 

 as if the bird was scolding you for intruding on his solitude. 

 Little seems to have been ascertained with regard to this sound. 

 Pennant says that " when the young first come abroad, and are 

 helpless, the old birds make a plaintive and jarring noise, with 

 a sort of snapping as if in menace, pursuing the passengers 

 along the hedge.' (Br. Zool. ed. 1812; Vol. I. p. 496). Ac- 

 cording to Knapp (Journ. of a Nat.) " the croaking of the 

 Nightingale in June and the end of May, is not occasioned by 

 the loss of voice, but by a change of note, — a change of object." 

 Bechstein, in his excellent Cage Birds, informs us that "in anger, 

 jealousy, rivalry, or any extraordinary event, he (the Nightingale) 

 utters hoarse disagreeable sounds, somewhat like a jay or a cat." 

 It is much to be regretted that Montagu, Selby, and Mudie, are 

 silent on this subject. Now it appears to me extremely doubtful 

 whether this croaking sound does proceed from the male, as 

 seems to be tlie opinion of Bechstein and Knapp. At all events 

 I am certain of this, that it is not made by the male alone ; as I 

 have more than once heard the male singing in one bush, whilst 

 the female was uttering its frog-like croak at the distance of 

 many yards from its mate. Some authors have supposed that 

 this guttural noise is not heard until the end of May ; this, how- 

 ever, my own experience enables me to contradict, having 

 frequently heard it before the song commences — so early as the 

 end of April. 



I one night started a Ring Pigeon (Columba palumbus, Linn.) 

 close to the tree in which the Nightingale was singing; the loud 

 rustling of the Pigeon's wings did not, however, in the least dis- 

 turb Philomel in his miserabile carmen, who seemed well aware 

 that he had nothing to fear from so gentle and harmless a 

 creature. — The Brake Nightingale is by no means the only bird 

 whose notes are heard in the night time; there is one other 

 nocturnal songster amongst the Sylviadje, whose notes, though 

 far inferior to those of the Nightingale, are by no means mono- 

 tonous or unpleasant — I mean the Sedge Reedling (Salicaria 

 phragmites, Selby). If a stone be thrown into a bush where one 

 of these birds is roosting, it will immediately begin to sing. The 

 other " birds of the night" are, the European Nightjar (Vociferator 

 Europccus, mihi; Caprimulgus Eur. auct.), the Peewit Lapwing 

 (Vanellus cristatus), the Meadow Crake (Crex pratensis), the 

 Common Gallinule (Gallinula ckhroptis, Lath.), the Barn Owl 



