THE NIGHTINGALE 47 



flew on board the steamer Abcl-el-Kader as we were steamino- 



o 



between Marseilles and the African coast, and I watched it 

 tamely alight on the back of a sleeping soldier. In spite of 

 the Bird Preservation Acts the Xightingale is harassed 

 incessantly by bird-catchers on its arrival in this country. 

 Out of the hundreds of birds that are still caught here in 

 spring but few survive their captivity long. When the cock 

 Ijird has found a mate it is rarely he lives in confinement, 

 soon pining away ; and Xightingales caught in the autumn 

 are said by the bird-catchers to be extremely difficult to tame. 



As I previously stated, the Xightingale is very peculiar in 

 selecting a haunt, and shuns many districts altogether, 

 which, as far as we can see, are eminently suited to its 

 requirements. In this country it loves to frequent woods 

 and coppices, especially where there is a good growth of 

 underwood. It likes those small woods where the hazel 

 bushes grow densely, and the brambles and briars in 

 thick masses fringe the tiny brooks. It may often be seen 

 flitting across the open spaces in the woods, and is frequently 

 flushed from the dense vegetation near streams, or in the 

 marshy corners of the plantations. It does not show much 

 preference for hedges ; like the Wood Wren it is a bird of 

 the woodlands. Soon after their arrival and before 

 pairing has taken place, numbers of Nightingales may be 

 met with in one small wood. I have seen such localities 

 literally swarming with this species, almost every bush con- 

 taining its sweet songster trying to out-sing all birds within 

 hearing. 



The Xightingale's song is associated with the pleasantest 

 days in the whole year. He sings his best when Xature is 

 acquiring her freshest vigour under the warm beams of a 

 May-day sun. It is when the woods and hedges look their 

 greenest and their fairest, when the hawthorns are as fleecy 

 mountains of glittering whiteness, and the glades are carpeted 



