The Nightingale. 6i 



their diet again ; that upon which I had reared them proving too fattening, now 

 that they were full-grown ; I knocked off three parts of the oat-flour and one of 

 the pea-meal, substituting fiuel}' crumbled dry bread. Curiously enough these 

 Nightingales would persist in sitting in the direct rays of the sun, the result of 

 which was that two of them got heat-apoplexy and lost all interest in everything, 

 appearing as if stuffed, neither moving nor eating. I gave them both a warm 

 bath after which one of them recovered, but the other died miserably about the 

 end of August. It was said to have warbled a little before its attack, but I 

 doubt it myself. 



My two remaining Nightingales became wonderfully confiding, and would 

 come and pick caterpillars or mealworms out of the palm of my hand, but neither 

 ever sang a note; one died from a recurrence of sunstroke in August, 1888, and 

 the other (a fine male bird) went off in a decline at the end of the same year. 

 As pets, hand-reared Nightingales are neither so pretty, nor so charming, as 

 Robins ; their outline is pleasing, and their full intelligent eyes give them an 

 alert appearance not belied b}^ their sprightly movements ; but one wants some- 

 thing more than a russet brown bird which only croaks or tooeys ; a Nightingale 

 which sings is a joy for ever, but a silent Nightingale is a fraud. 



A caught Nightingale which I had some years later, sang a little in the 

 evening, but never attained to the full song ; it seemed healthy, but did not 

 live many months. 



There are very few birds which sing their natural song when hand-reared, 

 and the Nightingale is not one of them : whether the Robin is, I do not know ; 

 I tried to rear a nest of these once, but foolishly gave them some chopped raw 

 meat, which killed the entire half dozen in one day. The best mixture for 

 successfully rearing all soft-food birds is as follows : — Four parts ants' cocoons, 

 three parts 5'olk of &g%, one part dry bread-crumbs ; the whole mixed very moist 

 at first, but given drier as the birds get older: the young of Butcher-birds, 

 Crows, &c., should have raw meat also, because flesh is to them a natural article 

 of food. 



This species concludes the Thrush-like birds. (TnrdincrJ. 



