THE GREAT MIGRATION 39 



Two or three pairs will haunt the same garden shrubberies 

 for many seasons, dividing up the territory into well-marked 

 properties or spheres of influence, which each bird respects. 

 But they are very fond of nesting in copses which change 

 their whole aspect in half a dozen seasons, as they grow 

 from one cutting to another ; and when the copse grows too 

 dark and tall, or when it has just been cut and gives scanty 

 shelter, the nightingales move away. This is the chief 

 reason of the great difference in the numbers of nightingales 

 in the same place in different seasons. But the lost night- 

 ingales generally come back, unless the whole character of 

 the district changes, as when old 'Nightingale Lanes' 

 become absorbed in populous suburbs and industrial towns. 

 They are one of the species which have greatly profited by 

 the increase of pheasant-preserving, with the vermin-killing 

 and exclusion of trespassers which it involves. One result 

 of their increase of numbers is the gradual extension of their 

 range into districts of Yorkshire, Cheshire, Devonshire, and 

 the Welsh border where they used to be very rare or wholly 

 absent. Taking the whole year round, our finest song- 

 bird is the song-thrush. All country lovers owe much to 

 this brilliant and indefatigable singer, which is in good 

 voice from October or November to July, and is heard in 

 every month. The nightingale's passion burns itself out 

 in less than two months ; but its voice is supreme while it 

 lasts. The first soft April night when it is heard is one of 

 the great landmarks of the year ; through scents of growth 

 and the dark air shimmering with new-born moths' wings 

 it resounds with the fervour of summer life. The throbbing 

 passion of the song is hardly less conspicuous when it is 

 heard next morning in the midst of the general chorus. 



Nightingales are one of the species which enter England 

 across the narrower part of the Channel, landing between 



