THE IMMORTAL NIGHTINGALE 241 



was, he said, the exact spot where he had heard it in 

 previous years; and before we had stood there five 

 minutes, silently listening wc were rewarded by the 

 sound we had come for issuing from a thorny tangle 

 not more than a dozen yards away — a prelusive sound 

 almost startling in its suddenness and power, as of vigor- 

 ous, rapidly repeated strokes on a great golden wire. 



And as in this one, so it is in hundreds of parishes all 

 over the country where the nightingale is thinly scat- 

 tered. Each home of the bird is known to every man 

 in the parish ; he can find it easily as, when thirsty, he 

 can find the spring of clear water hidden away some- 

 where among the rocks and trees of his native place; 

 and the song, too, is a fountain of beautiful sound, 

 crystal pure and sparkling, as it gushes from the mys- 

 terious inexhaustible reservoir, refreshing to the soul 

 and a joy for ever. 



The loss of one of these nightingales where there is 

 but one, is a sorrow to the villagers, especially to the 

 young lovers, who are great admirers of the bird and 

 take a peculiar delight in listening to its evening per- 

 formance. For it does sometimes happen that the night- 

 ingale whose "solitary song" is a delight of a village, 

 disappears from his place and returns no more. The 

 only explanation is that the faithful bird has at length 

 met with his end, after a dozen or twenty years, or as 

 many years as any old man can remember. The most 

 singular case of the loss of a bird I have come across 

 was in East Anglia, in a place where there were very 

 few nightingales. In my rambles I came to a little 



