BLACKCAP. 31 



He has decidedly more compass and variety than any other 

 English hird except the nightingale : he begins with a soft 

 low melodious whistle, like the voice of the nightingale 

 heard afar off, or the whistle of a countryman at a distance, 

 softened into melody by the surrounding hills ; it comes 

 nearer and nearer, louder and louder, a series of varied, 

 rich, liquid, and sonorous notes, till all at once you are 

 astonished to find the little bird, from whose throat such 

 surpassing melody is poured, is sitting in a bush by your 

 side, or on the branch of a tree close over your head. But 

 notwithstanding all the wildness and variety of the black- 

 cap's song, there is a vast deal of method in it. It is quite 

 worth while to listen attentively to him, and you find that 

 his usual song is very tune-like, and might readily be imi- 

 tated on the flute or flageolet. Sometimes, after he has 

 gone through his tune several times in succession, he will 

 introduce a few notes as from a march, and then all at 

 once he will give you a delicious and off-hand imitation of 

 the song-thrush, blackbird, or even nightingale. 



The NIGHTINGALE accompanies the blackcap, or per- 

 haps precedes it by a single day. I have seen or heard it 

 on the 12th of April for many following years. The neigh- 

 bourhood of Godalming has been called the valley of night- 

 ingales, and well it deserves the name : throughout the fine 

 nights in May, there is a complete chorus of these birds ; 

 every coppice contains numbers, and every garden two or 

 three pairs : it is really glorious to listen to them in a 

 moonlight midnight, after a showery day. There is a stile 

 under Ockford coppice, at the back of the town, on which 

 I have sat for hours, listening to the hundred-tongued har- 

 mony, interrupted now and then by the sharp cry of the 

 screech owl, as on noiseless wing he wound his way along 



