4 



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THE KIGHTI>'GAIJi;.* 



The Xiglitingale is universally regarded as the most celebrated of all tlie Lritish 

 warblers, possessing beyond any other tliosc requisites of volume, qualitj', and execution 

 of voice, which combine to make a songster. Emphatic has been the praise which many 

 have awarded the songs of this bird, but few have been more expressive or more natural 

 than that of Isaac Widton. " The nightingale," he says, " another of my airy creatures, 

 l)rcatLcs such sweet, loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that it miglit make man- 

 Icind to think that miracles had not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer 

 sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the 

 natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted 

 above earth, and .say, ' Lord, what music hast thou pro\ddcd for the saints in heaven, 

 when thou affordcst bad men such music on earth !' " 



The nightingale usually makes its appearance in England about the middle of 

 April, and leaves in August. These birds prefer localities wlicrc there are woods luuing 

 thick undergrowth, and where low coppices and plantations abound. Their nests arc 

 constructed with singular artifice, being so carefully concealed from view tluit they arc 

 very difficult to discover. They arc almost always placed upon the ground, adxantagc 

 being taken of any accidental depression of the gi'ound ;\lii(li may exist. Tlic outside is 

 composed of dried leaves or grass, or of the skeleton leaves which may bo found in the 



' Cun-uca Luscinia. 



