64 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
small amount of fruit stolen during the heat of 
summer from our gardens, and the result is so 
obviously in favour of the bird that it is unnecessary 
to enter into long explanations and comparisons. 
The far-famed song of the nightingale has been so 
often described in so many different ways, that it is 
almost impossible to say anything upon the subject 
which has not already been said many times over. I 
cannot refrain from disagreeing, however, with an 
author lately deceased (the Rev. C. A. Johns), with 
regard to the alleged “sadness” of the bird’s song. 
“Tt is a disputed point,” he remarks, ‘“‘ whether the 
nightingale’s song should be considered joyous or 
melancholy. This must always remain a question 
of taste. My own opinion is, that the piteous 
wailing note which is its most characteristic nature 
(qy- feature?) casts a shade of sadness, as it were, 
over the whole song, even those portions which 
gush with the most exuberant gladness. I think, 
too, although my assertion may seem a barbarous 
one, that, if the nightingale’s song comprised the 
wailing notes alone, it would be universally shunned 
as the most painfully melancholy sound in nature. 
From this, however, it is redeemed. by the rapid 
transition, just when the anguish of the bird has 
arrived at such a pitch as to be no longer supportable, 
to a passage overflowing with joy and gladness.” 
I have heard the songs of many nightingales in the 
course of my life, and I have listened to the bird for 
hours together, alike by night and by day, but I 
cannot say that upon any single occasion I have 
