6o The Nightingale. 



which is usually in June, after this it is onl}- heard in the evening after the 

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



As the j-oung birds hear but little of the song which is their greatest gift, 

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

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

 best the unborn chick could barel}^ be capable of appreciating sound for a da)' or 

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

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

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

 more likel}- that the song is parti}- learnt when the father is at evenst:ng and 

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

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

 months. 



It has been said that Nightingales do not bear confinement well, yet I have 

 seen individuals which have lived for 3-ears 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 years, and it sang grandh- when we heard it. Man}- years later 

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

 years and still sang well. Every year man}- 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 young in an aviary. 



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

 those obtained on their avitumn migration are said rarely 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 finely 

 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 successfully 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 abotit 

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

 feathers ; therefore early in August, I placed them in three separate sections of a 

 large aviary-cage with sliding wire divisions, and here they soon recovered their 

 plumage. They w-ere very tame, but, like most birds, objected to being handled ; 

 although this was frequently necessary, as they used to get their feet clogged 

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



