276 SYLVIAD.E. 



a male may be kept in song for tlirce montlis together ; and 

 I remember to have heard it stated by a successful keeper of 

 Nightingales, that a bird of his had sung upon one hundred 

 and fourteen successive days. 



The localities frequented by the Nightingale are woods 

 having thick undergrowth, low coppices, plantations, and 

 hedgerows. The extensive grounds around London which are 

 cultivated by market-gardeners, arc favourite haunts with this 

 bird; low damp meadows near streams are also frequented ; 

 and M, Vieillot says they are partial to the vicinity 

 of an echo. From the paii-ing time to the hatching of the 

 young, the male continues in full song, not only singing 

 at intervals throughout the day, but frequently serenading 

 his partner during the night ; and Pennant says, the name of 

 the bird is derived from our term night, and the Saxon word 

 galan, to sing. The nest of this bird is almost always 

 placed on the ground : advantage is taken of a slight de- 

 pression in the soil, some dead oak and hornbeam leaves are 

 deposited therein, with a few dried bents and portions of 

 rushes, lined internally towards the bottom with fine fibrous 

 roots; but so loosely constructed, that it is generally necessary 

 to pass thread or string several times round the whole nest, 

 before removing it, if desirous of preserving its form. The 

 eggs are four or five in number, of a uniform olive brown 

 colour, and measuring ten lines in length by eight lines and a 

 half in breadth. The eggs are produced in May, and the 

 young are hatched in June. From this period the song of 

 the male is heard no more ; a single low croaking note is 

 uttered as a warning should danger threaten, occasionally 

 changing to a sharp snapping noise, made with the beak, 

 which is considered to be a note of defiance. Colonel Mon- 

 tagu took a nest of young Nightingales early in June, and 

 placing them in a cage, observed that the parent birds fed 

 them principally with small green caterpillars. The adult 



