Nightingales 79 



Under such conditions, the dawn of a May morn- 

 ing in England is one of the most beautiful things 

 that the Creator has granted to us. 



For an hour or more every feathered throat is 

 quivering with this wonderful outburst of song, and 

 never a discordant note is heard, although each bird is 

 going his own way with varied tones, and stanzas, and 

 keys ; so marvellously is nature ordered and arranged. 



Set a human company of picked singers to sing 

 their favourite songs together, each one choosing his 

 own melody, and time, and key ! The result would be 

 appalling ! in the same way that mixtures of certain 

 colours, which in nature, either in flowers or birds, are 

 beautiful, in human dress (at any rate in European 

 dress) would be eccentric and hideous. 



I could not resist keeping a watch on one of the 

 nightingale's nests in my Suffolk garden, which was 

 built in the base of a large sheaf of reeds, placed in an 

 upright position by myself amongst some snow-berry 

 bushes and lilacs, at the back of an herbaceous border, 

 for some of my fancy ducks to nest under. 



The bushes grew at the top and down the sides of 

 a bank overhanging a moat ; and the spot, although so 

 close to a gravel walk, was very snug, and sheltered 

 by a thick hedge of thorn. It was in visiting my 

 reed-sheaves to see whether my mandarin or summer 

 ducks had taken advantage of them, that I discovered 

 the nightingale on her nest. She had selected a small 

 hollow in the side of the sheaf, about a foot from the 

 ground, in which she had constructed her leafy nest, 

 using very little material at the back, where the reeds 



