TME IMMORTAL NIGHTINGALE 247 



even in countries where the liateful custom of eating 

 nightingales with all small birds is unknown, but where 

 it is greatly sought after as a cage bird. Thus, in 

 Southern Germany the nightingales have been decreas- 

 ing for very many years and arc now generally rare 

 and have been wholly extirpated in many parts. With 

 us, too, the drain on the species has been too heavy; 

 it is, or has been, a double drain — that of birds'-nesting 

 boys and of the bird-catchers. 



With regard to the first, there is unfortunately no 

 sentiment of superstition concerning the nightingale as 

 in the case of his cousin, the redbreast — "yellow 

 autumn's nightingale," as it was beautifully called by 

 one of the Elizabethan poets. How effective such a 

 sentiment can be I have witnessed scores of times when 

 I have found that even the most thorough-paced nest- 

 takers among the village children are accustomed to 

 spare the robin, because as they say something bad will 

 happen to them, or their hand will wither up, if they 

 harry its nest. The nightingale's eggs, like those of the 

 throstle and shufflewing and Peggie whitethroat, are 

 taken without a qualm ; they arc, indeed, more sought 

 after than others on account of their beauty and unusual 

 colouring and because they are less common. 



I believe that the increase of the birds each summer 

 would be about a third more than it is but for the loss 

 from this cause alone. 



The destruction caused by the bird-catcher is not 

 nearly so serious now as it has been, even down to the 

 sixties of the last century, when a single London bird- 



