AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 105 



37. NIGHTINGALE. 



Daulias liiscinia. 



This well-known charming songster is, I think, as 

 abundant in North Northamptonshire as in any part 

 of England with wdiich I am acquainted, as might 

 naturally be expected from the character of the dis- 

 trict, abounding as it does in streams, bushy copses, 

 and mossy banks, overgrown with ivy and other 

 creeping-plants — in fact, an infinite variety of the 

 favourite haunts and nesting-places of this welcome 

 spring visitor to our country. On account of my 

 usual absence from home during the spring, I am 

 unable on my own authority to fix an average date for 

 the arrival or first hearing of the Nightingale in our 

 neighbourhood, but from information kindly supplied 

 by two gentlemen interested in the subject, and resi- 

 dent in the district, whose observations extend from 

 1860 to 1875, it appears that April 20th is about the 

 day one may expect the pleasure of hearing this 

 sweet singer. The earliest date given in the notes 

 above mentioned is April 13th, the latest May 4th, 

 but, as is probably well known, these birds are occa- 

 sionally silent for some days after their first arrival, 

 and I well recollect on one occasion finding a Night- 

 ingale in one of their favourite haunts a full week 

 before I heard the song. The male birds arrive 

 considerably sooner than the females, as I have re- 

 peatedly observed, and if caught before they have 

 paired, and treated with care, are not difficult to keep 

 and will soon sing, but I have found the young birds 

 exceedingly hard to rear in the few instances in 

 w^hich I have attempted to do so, and consequently 

 let them all go as soon as they could fly. I know 



