92 OUR FAVOURITE SONG BIRDS 



song is exceptionally fine in the twilight, both just 

 before sunrise and after sunset, especially during 

 warm settled weather. The bird continues in fine 

 voice throughout May, but in June a falling-off is 

 perceptible, and finally the song is hushed during the 

 latter part of the breeding season. This species is 

 in great request as a cage-bird, but it is one that takes 

 poorly to captivity. 



Whether the Nightingale pairs for life we are not 

 prepared to say, but individual birds are certainly in 

 the habit of returning to certain haunts each season 

 to breed, and these are very jealously guarded from 

 intrusion. The Nightingale nests in May. In our 

 islands the nest is usually placed amongst the rank 

 herbage in the bird's haunts, often in a bank, in a 

 hedge-bottom, or in a drift of last season's dead 

 leaves. Sometimes it is made amongst ivy a foot 

 or more from the ground, but more generally it is 

 upon the ground. This nest is something similar 

 to that of a Robin, of large size, and chiefly 

 composed of dry grass, bits of rush, leaf, and 

 quantities of dead leaves, usually those of the oak, 

 and lined with roots, finer grass and a little horse- 

 hair. The five or six eggs vary from dark olive- 

 brown to bluish-green, sometimes with a darker cap 

 at the end, and streaked with one or two hair like 

 lines or scratches. The female bird performs the 

 chief duty of incubation ; and both parents are very 

 undemonstrative at the nest. 



