NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



The male members of this species 

 arrive upon our shores from ten days to 

 a fortnight earlier than the females, and 

 sing by night in order to attract the 

 latter, which travel during the hours of 

 darkness. As soon as the young ones 

 are hatched the superb song ceases, and 

 both parent birds confine their energies 

 to the wants of the chicks. 



Poets of all ages have given the song 

 of the Nightingale a great deal of atten- 

 tion, but how strangely they have gone 

 astray in regard to the bird's habits ! It 

 appears to have appealed to most of 

 them on account of its practice of sing- 

 ing by night, and the touch of melan- 

 choly in the three or four lengthened 

 notes that commence softly and gradu- 

 ally rise until they are so loud and 

 strong that they may be heard at a 

 great distance. Curiously enough, they 

 made the mistake of thinking that their 

 Philomel only sang by night, and was 

 the solitary bird that did so. 



Even our immortal William of Avon 

 says: 



" The Nightingale, if he should sing by day 

 When every goose is cackling would be thought 

 No better a musician than the Wren." 



The fact that the bird sings by day as 

 134 



