334 PHILOMELA LUSCINIA. 



should the weather be severe, the females, according to various 

 observers, coming a week or ten days after the males. Indivi- 

 duals settle in the southern counties, including part of Devon- 

 shire, in the eastern and midland districts, and as far north as 

 the vicinity of York and Carlisle ; but none are to be seen in 

 Cornwall, Wales, or the north-western parts of England, and 

 the migration of this species does not extend into Scotland, al- 

 though on the continent it proceeds much farther north. Seve- 

 ral individuals, however, have alleged that the Nightingale 

 has been heard north of the Tweed. Thus, in a letter with 

 which I am favoured by Mr Robert D. Duncan, is the fol- 

 lowing notice respecting it : — " The Nightingales arrived in 

 Calder Wood, in West Lothian, in the early part of the sum- 

 mer of 1826. I cannot remember so far back, but creditable 

 eye and ear witnesses, on whose testimony implicit reliance 

 may be placed, gave me the information. Before and about 

 midnight, while the full moon shone bright and clear, the 

 superior warble of the male was first heard, which soon attracted 

 a number of admiring individuals, who hastened to the spot, 

 supposing it at first to be a scape-canary. The owner of the 

 wood was extremely anxious to preserve them, thinking per- 

 haps that they might propagate ; but with all his care and 

 attention, some malicious and selfish individuals attempted to 

 take them with bird-lime, but failing in their efforts, they after- 

 wards shot the male, upon which the female left the wood." It 

 leaves its summer residence from the middle of September to 

 the end of that month, and betakes itself to the countries west- 

 ward of the Mediterranean. 



Its favourite haunts in this country are woods, copses, and 

 hedgerows, especially in places where the soil is moist ; and 

 in the neighbourhood of London it is not unfrequently found 

 in the numerous market-gardens from which that vast city is 

 supplied with vegetables. But so hideling are its habits that 

 one seldom obtains a glimpse of it, and then its homely attire 

 is little apt to attract notice. " Its food," according to Sweet, 

 " consists entirely of insects of various sorts, but it prefers the 

 eggs of ants to any other ; it is also very fond of the young 

 larvae of Wasps or Hornets." 



