THE IMMORTAL NIGHTINGALE 245 



diLzzlcd and confused, or hypnotised by the glitter of 

 the glass with tlie sun on it, and in this case the sing- 

 ing-bush of the Ijird was directly before the window, 

 at a distance of twenty-live to thirty feet. The singer, 

 motionless on his perch, had looked too long on it, and 

 the effect was such that even after two hurting-blows 

 on the glass his little brain had not recovered from its 

 twist. Then came its third and fatal bl«nv. 



To return to the subject of the nightingales' curious 

 distribution in England. The facts appear to show that 

 practically the species is stationary with us; that it re- 

 mains strictly v.ithin the old limits and in about the 

 same numbers. Bird-catchers, birds'-nesting boys, and 

 cats extirpate them round the towns; but, taking the 

 whole country, we do not observe any great changes 

 such as we note in some other migrants — the swallow 

 and martin, for example, and among warblers, to name 

 only one, the lesser whitethroat. The conclusion would 

 seem to be that each season's increase is just sufficient 

 to make good the annual losses from all natural causes 

 and from man's persecution; that every bird returns to 

 the exact spot where it was hatched, and that no new 

 colonies are formed or the range extended. 



The practical question arises: Would it not make 

 a difference if the annual destruction through human 

 agency could be done away with? I believe it would. 

 Each cock nightingale, we find, takes possession of his 

 own little domain on arrival, and, like his relation, the 

 robin, will not alK)w another to share it with him; so 

 that if two or more males of a brood, or family, S"r- 



