BIRDS. 



331 



desk. The vicai* would not allow the birds to be disturbed, and 

 therefore s«upplied himself with another Bible, from which he 

 read the lessons of the service."* One i)uir built repeatedly 

 adjoining a blacksmith's shop ; but neitlicr the noise of the 

 adjacent forge, nor frequent visits disturbed them.f Another 

 constructed the nest in a hole in the timbers of a vessel under- 

 going repairs in the dry dock at Belfast, while the deafening 

 process of driving in what are called the tree-nails was carried 

 forward, occasionally close to the nest.;}; But a more extra- 

 ordinary selection was made by one which had been frequently 

 expelled from a bird-stulKng room, where the window was 

 kept open, and is thus recorded by Mr. Thompson : — " Finding 

 that expulsion was of no avail, recourse was had to a novel 

 and rather comieid expedient. My friend had, a short time 

 before, received a collection of stuffed Asiatic quadrupeds, 

 and of these he selected the most fierce-looking Carnivora, 

 and placed them at the open window, which they nearly fdled 

 up, hoping that their formidable aspect might deter the bird 



from future ingress ; but the Eedbreast was not to be so 



frightened from its 'propriety,' and made its eH^ree as usual. 

 Its perseverance was at length rewarded by a free permission 



to have its own way, when, as if in defiance of the ruse that 



had been attempted to be practised upou it, the chosen place 



for the nest was the head of a shark ! " 

 The Nightingale {Sylvia 



luscinia, Fig. 265, A.) stands 



pre-eminent in all the re- 

 quisites for first-rate song. 



The volume, quality, and 



execution of its voice are 



unrivalled among British 



birds, and its powers appear 



still more extraordinary, 



taken in connexion with 



the diminutive size of the 



musician. § It is a native Fig. 265, a.— Nightingale. 



• From the pleasing little volumes to which we have more than once 

 referred, the " Familiar Ilistorj- of Birds" by the BLshop of Nonvich, voL ii. 

 p. 35. The fact is given on the authority of a writer in Magazine of 

 Natural History, No. 31. 



+ YaiTell, from the Field Naturalists' Magazine. 



I Thompson. The vessel was the Dunlop. § Yarrell. 



