6o The Nightingale. 



which is usually in June, after tliis it is only heard in the evening after the 

 arduous duty of providing for its family is completed for the da}-. 



As the 3'oung birds hear but little of the song which is their greatest gift, 

 during the rearing season, it has been suggested that they may leani it while 

 still in the egg ; but this idea seems to me far fetched, and most improbable ; at 

 best the unborn chick could barely be capable of appreciating sound for a day or 

 two before hatching : but, what seems to me to clinch the matter, is the fact 

 that, if taken from the nest when eight daA's old and hand-reared. Nightingales 

 in confinement do not sing a note ; or such is m}- experience. I think it far 

 more likel}- that the song is partly learnt when the father is at evensi ng and 

 most other voices are hushed, for then the Nightingale's melody sounds most 

 impressive ; probably the finishing lessons are given in Africa, during our winter 

 months. 



It has been said that Nightingales do not bear confinement well, 3'et I have 

 seen individuals which have lived for years in quite small cages ; I remember 

 one which hung against the wall of a house exactly opposite our hotel bedroom 

 window at Baden-Baden, about the year 1867 ; we were told that it had been 

 caged for several 3'ears, and it sang grandly when we heard it. Man}' ^-ears later 

 I saw one at an inn, at Selling in Kent, which had been caged for about eight 

 5-ears and still sang well. Everj' year many are exhibited at bird-shows, the 

 same specimens being shown in successive years. I have also known an instance 

 of this species breeding and rearing j-oung in an aviary. 



The spring-caught Nightingales are those which are sold for songsters, 

 those obtained on their autumn migration are said rarel}' to live. In June, 

 1887, I secured a nest of five birds nine days old, and (following the usual 

 most misleading instructions) I fed them, amongst other things, on finel_v 

 chopped raw meat ; consequently they all suffered from violent purging, which 

 carried off the two strongest. Guessing that the meat was the cause of 

 this disaster, I at once changed their diet, and successfull}' brought up the 

 three others upon a mixture of four parts pounded dog-biscuit, four parts 

 oat flour, two parts pea-meal, two parts yolk of egg, and one part ants' 

 cocoons, the whole well mingled with water into a moist paste. When about 

 six weeks old, they began to quarrel about trifles, and pull out one another's 

 feathers ; therefore earl}* in August, I placed them in three separate sections of a 

 large aviar3'-cage with sliding wire divisions, and here the3' soon recovered their 

 plumage. They were ver3- tame, but, like most birds, objected to being handled ; 

 although this was frcquentl3- necessar}', as the3' used to get their feet clogged 

 with dirt, which the3- never attempted to remove for themselves I now changed 



