62 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



of the moon is hidden in the plain eggs of 

 the Nightingale," it may be worthy of note that the 

 same plain olive hue is repeated in the shell ^yhich 

 enshrines the music of the sun ; for in point of 

 colour the eggs of the Nightingale and of the Sky- 

 lark are singularly alike. 



The young are hatched in June, and from this 

 time forward, as in the case of so many birds, the 

 song of the parent practically ceases. 



The haunts of this bird in one of the southern 

 counties are described by Richard Jefferies as 

 follows : — 



" The slender birch and ash poles are hung with 

 woodbine and wild hops, both growing in profu- 

 sion. A cream-coloured wall of woodbine in flower 

 extends in one spot, in another festoons of hops 

 hang gracefully, and so thick as to hide everything 

 beyond them. There is scarce a stole without its 

 woodbine or hops ; many of the poles, though 

 larger than the arm, are scored with spiral grooves 

 left by the bines. Under these bushes of woodbine 

 the Nightingales, when they first arrive in spring, 

 are fond of searching for food, and dart on a grub 

 with a low, satisfied ' kurr.' The place is so 

 favourite a resort that it might well be called Night- 

 ingale copse. Four or five may be heard singing 

 at once on a warm May morning, and at least two 

 may often be seen as well as heard at the same time. 

 They sometimes sing from the trees as well as from 

 the bushes; one was singing one morning on an 

 elm-tree branch which projected over the road, and 

 under which the van drivers jogged indifferently 

 along. Sometimes they sing from the dark foliage 



