ENGLISH BIRD-LIFE 3Q5 



ceived idea of it. I had expected a rushing outpouring of 

 music, but I found a more deliberate song of disconnected 

 phrases of from three to five seconds' length each, followed 

 by pauses of almost equal duration. 



" The Nightingale, in transport, seemed to fling 

 His warble out, and then sit listening." 



Occasionally a more prolonged strain was given, but, as 

 a whole, the song lacked the force, crescendo and diminuen- 

 do effects of a continuous effort. It is a surprisingly loud 

 song, in tone a decided whistle ; a wonderfully voluble, var- 

 ied, but rather hard performance. At times, a measure or 

 two suggested portions of the song of our nocturnal singer, 

 the Chat, and again some of the more rapid calls reminded 

 one of certain notes of the Carolina Wren, but as a whole we 

 have no bird whose song resembles that of the Nightingale. 



Two days later, at Cambridge, hearing a Nightingale 

 singing in the afternoon, when its voice formed merely a 

 part of the spring-time chorus, I was impressed alike with 

 the part the bird 's nocturnal habits have played in establish- 

 ing its reputation as a songster and with the characteristic 

 insight displayed in Shakespeare's lines: 



"The Nightingale, if she should sing by day 

 When every Goose is cackling, would be thought 

 No better a musician than the Wren." 



At Cambridge, I was the guest of an English ornitholo- 

 gist whose home, with its surrounding acres on the Cam, af- 

 forded opportunities for making the acquaintance of Eng- 

 lish birds under exceptionally favorable conditions. Not 

 only could I roam where I pleased, unquestioned, but the 

 quiet, pastoral beauty of the meadows, hedge-rows, fens and 

 winding river combined with perfect weather to make a 

 flawless setting for my initial impressions of English bird- 

 life. 



Here, on May 27-29, beside the Nightingale, I met the 

 Song and Missel Thrushes, Blackbird, Skylark, Rook, Jack- 

 daw, Starling, Cuckoo, Chaffinch, Eobin Redbreast, Linnet, 

 Wood Pigeon, Turtle-Dove, Corn Crake, Moorhen all 



