66 Bird-keeping. 



the beauty and strength of their song. This would 

 seem; to betoken an absence of entire happiness in 

 confinement. 



The NIGHTINGALE (Luscinia Philomela or Sylvia 

 luscinia), the most beautiful of all our songsters, comes 

 to England towards the end of April, and leaves us 

 at the beginning of September. It is rarely found in 

 the extreme west of England or in Ireland, and visits 

 some parts of Yorkshire only ; in the neighbourhood 

 of Carlisle it has been seen, but rarely goes beyond 

 the southern and middle counties. Some say that it 

 is unknown in Cornwall and Devonshire, and that the 

 Nightingale never frequents spots where the cowslip 

 does not grow ; but its plain brown plumage and its 

 fondness for secluded districts may enable it to escape 

 observation unless especially sought. The Nightingale 

 is said always to return to its birthplace, whether 

 marsh, mountain, or wood, and to revisit the same 

 spot year after year. The males always arrive a few 

 days before the females, and are then easily caught 

 by the bird-catchers on the watch for them. They 

 are very inquisitive birds, and very easily snared by 

 a trap-cage baited with mealworms ; but they will 

 sometimes refuse to eat at first, and will require to be 

 coaxed to take their food by placing a few mealworms 

 under a glass in the middle of a pan containing raw 

 beef, scraped free from fibre, and mixed with water 

 and hard-boiled egg. The bird will peck at the meal- 



