208 



THE NIGHTINGALE. 



attract the bird to its destruction. It appears to make great havoc among the caterpillars, 

 which come out to feed at night, and are to be seen so abundantly on damp, warm evenings. 

 In the autumn it is somewhat of a fruit-eater, and has been seen in the act of eating "black- 

 heart" cherries, plucking them from the tree and carrying them to its young. In captivity it 

 is best fed upon meal-worms, raw beef scraped with a knife and given very fresh, hard-boiled 

 egg and water, all mixed into a kind of paste. The idea, however, of caging a Nightingale, 

 seems so barbarous, that I shall say nothing more on that subject. 



As is well known, the song of the Nightingale is almost wholly uttered in the evening, 

 but the birds may sometimes be heard in full song throughout the day. Towards the end of 



' \v,..\ ~- <;. 

 NIGHTINGALES. Lusclnta vera and Lwsdida phUometa. 



June, when the young birds are hatched, the song changes into a kind of rough, croaking 

 sound, which is uttered by way of warning, and accompanied with a sharp, snapping sound 

 of the beak. The time when the Nightingales sing loudest and most constantly is during the 

 week or two after their arrival, for they are then engaged in attracting their mates, and sing 

 in fierce rivalry of each other, hoping to fascinate their brides by the splendor of their voices. 

 When once the bird has procured a partner, he becomes deeply attached to her, and if she 

 should be captured, soon pines away and dies, full of sorrowful remembrances. The bird 

 dealers are therefore anxious to catch the Nightingale before the first week has elapsed, as 

 they can then, by dint of care and attention, preserve the bird in full song to a very late 

 period. Mr. Yarrell mentions an instance where a caged Nightingale sang upon an hundred 

 and fourteen successive days. 



The nest of the Nightingale is always placed upon or very near the ground, and is gener- 

 ally carefully hidden beneath heavy foliaare. One such nest that I discovered was placed 



