THE NIGHTINGALE. 35 



taken in February, by placing under the trees on 

 which the mistletoe grows, perches with limed twigs. 

 They may also be caught in the water- traps at sunset. 

 Those which are yellowish under the body, being males, 

 are chosen for confinement. During the first days of 

 captivity they are savage, sulky, and often refuse to 

 eat, so that many perish in this way ; those Avhich 

 are saved soon repay the trouble by their songs and 

 familiarity. 



Nightingale. Nothing is easier than to catch a 

 nightingale in the season of pairing. If a little furrow, 

 smooth at the bottom, is dug in a dark soil, and some 

 meal-worms or ants' eggs are thrown into it, he will 

 immediately fly to these delicacies. By putting also 

 in the same place limed twigs, or a small net which 

 may be easily dropped, he will soon be caught ; it is 

 even sufficient to fix over the furrow a bit of wood 

 supported by a stick, which will fall as soon as the bird 

 perches upon it. He is so unsuspicious that he ob- 

 serves the snare being laid, and then foolishly falls 

 into it, when the bird-catcher has moved only a few 

 steps from it ; he will even allow himself to be led to 

 it when at a little distance, if in a gentle manner. A. 

 bird-catcher may thus, in a few hours, depopulate a 

 whole district of these delightful songsters. If, how- 

 ever, this is feared, there is a means of baffling his in- 

 tentions, by anticipating him, and catching the night- 

 ingale we wish to preserve in our neighbourhood, 

 either by a limed twig or in a net, and letting him go 

 again. This experiment will prevent his falling so 

 readily into the snare in future. In the greater part 

 of Germany, indeed, it is forbidden, under a very heavy 

 penalty, to catch nightingales. Another mode of 

 taking them is by nooses and springes, and suspending 

 for a bait, instead of berries, live meal-worms ; but 



