332 PHILOMELA LUSCINLV. 



singing birds of all sorts, of which never having read, I may 

 here make mention. It is this : — I have never met with birds 

 truly migratory, by which I mean birds that visit countries 

 from which they retire as soon as their young are able to tra- 

 vel, that ever sing in confinement during winter in the coun- 

 tries to which they had migrated to breed, though they sing 

 in the country to which they return to spend the winter. Of 

 these the Nightingale is one, for it does not exhibit its vocal 

 powers in confinement until after the spring moult, either in 

 France or in England ; but you no doubt have heard on mild 

 winter days the Song Thrush, the Linnet, or the Goldfinch, when 

 the cages of these birds have been placed in the sunshine, and 

 out of doors, pour forth their songs, and not unfrequently some 

 brief strains are emitted by the Sky-Lark, the AVinter Fau- 

 vette, and that little musical box the Kitty- Wren. 



" Almost all the Nightingales that I have known whilst 

 kept in confinement, have died at an early age, through the 

 mismanagement of their owners, who, thinking that this spe- 

 cies, as it comes from warmer climates, ought to be kept at a 

 very high artificial temperature, especially during winter, have 

 thus overheated it. I have ascertained from experience that«a 

 room kept at the moderate heat of 58° to 60° Fahr. is best 

 suited to their constitution. Again, the general custom of keep- 

 ing these birds in cages covered with trappings of various tex- 

 tures, is absurd, inasmuch as,, in no portions of the countries 

 in which the Nightingale is found, is it known to conceal or 

 hide itself as it were, from the genuine and only pleasing free- 

 dom of the air and the rays of the sun. Indeed, Reader, when- 

 ever I have seen this sweet bird so confined, I have thought of 

 the melancholy lives led by pets of another sort, when confined, 

 I would say almost tortured, in rooms called nurseries, w^here 

 they become heartily tired of all the playthings presented to 

 them, and pant for the delight of gambolling over the green 

 grass plat in view of their glazed prisons. I have known bird- 

 sellers wicked enough to put out the eyes of the Nightingales 

 taken from the nest, under the pretence that they sing best 

 when blind. This is a most barbarous practice, and certainly 

 ought to be discountenanced by amateurs, who can easily put 

 it down, by never purchasing a bird so horribly maimed. 



