26 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



should any difficulty be experienced in obtaining a 

 sufficient supply of insect-food. 



For the guidance of amateurs who might have a desire 

 to rear a brood of young Nightingales, I may observe 

 that a considerable amount of experience has convinced 

 me that the young of the first nest are for the most 

 part males, and those of the subsequent batches, females. 



Since penning the foregoing paragraphs I have been 

 able myself to rear a youthful Nightingale, and did not 

 find the task a specially difficult one: I had a good 

 supply of the best preserved English ants' eggs (cocoons) 

 from Romans of Llanelly, and a number of small meal- 

 worms, on which my bird throve admirably. 



It was a young one I brought in from the garden 

 one day, but incapable of feeding itself, though it could 

 fly a little, and was, probably, the youngest of a brood, 

 the rest of which escaped. 



By the bye, the nestling Nightingale is very unlike its 

 parents, and more nearly resembles a baby Robin: it 

 is of a light reddish- brown colour thickly dotted all 

 over, especially on the breast, with yellowish-grey spots ; 

 its tail, however, and the upper tail-coverts are of a 

 ruddy chesnut hue, and at once afford a clue to the 

 little creature's identity. 



At first it was very shy, and would not open its bill to 

 be fed, so that I was afraid I should have to force it, but 

 I put it into a covered basket, on opening which a short 

 time after wards, it came hopping up to me with open mouth 



