MTGRA TION OF NIGHTINGALES. 233 



at night, when most of our other warblers are silent, with their 

 rich melody ; while in other pnrts, to all appearance as well 

 suited to their habits, not one was ever known to be heard ; 

 this comparative rarity or abundance not unfrequently occur- 

 ring in spots only a few miles apart. It might be supposed 

 that the warmest parts of the kingdom were best adapted to 

 their habits ; if so, why are they not to be found in the 

 southern parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, where, we believe, 

 they are never heard? As a general rule, it has been said, 

 that they are not to be met with north of the Trent ; but this 

 is not strictly correct, as in the northern parts of Yorkshire, as 

 far as Wetherby, they are at least occasional visitors. 



If they are limited to certain districts by the nature of their 

 favourite food, it might be interesting to discover what this 

 precise food is, so capriciously and unaccountably confined to 

 certain spots. We have alluded more than once to the regular 

 return of birds to the same nests and places of their birth ; 

 and it might be supposed that this would solve the mystery, 

 the Nightingales naturally returning only to those spots where, 

 for time out of mind, a train of ancestors might have built 

 before them ; but this is not borne out by facts : for a gentle- 

 man who was very desirous of introducing these birds on his 

 estate in a northern part of the kingdom, commissioned a person 

 in London to purchase as many Nightingales' eggs as he could 

 procure at a shilling each. This was done accordingly ; they 

 were carefully packed in wool, and forwarded by the mail. In 

 the meantime men had been employed to find and take care of 

 several Robin Redbreasts' nests, in places where they might 

 hatch securely. The eggs were then placed under the Robins, 

 by whom the young Nightingales were successfully reared, and 

 remained in the neighbourhood till the usual time for migra- 

 tion ; when it is supposed they went away, as they were not 

 seen again after that period, and not one was known to return 

 to the place of its birth. It has been suggested by others, 

 that being a delicate bird, and little calculated to endure the 

 fatigue of long flights, they migrated from the Continent only 

 to the eastern coast of England, and then gradually journeyed 

 inland ; and consequently that this would account for their not 



