140 



FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



The mi<^ration is usually at iii,!^lit, which poculiarity 

 may account in a groat degree for their nocturnal singing, 

 esjiecially as the males would thereby attract the later- 

 arriving females. 



Some naturalists have gone so far as to imagine that 

 the day-singers were distinct from the nocturnal ones, and 

 others that the parent birds took turns in sitting upon the 

 eggs, and that it was the female whose voice so enchanted 

 their ears in the stillness of evening; but both these ideas 

 are now exploded. 



With care and a sufficiency of proper food a Nightin- 

 gale may be kept in an aviary, but Ijetter still in a proju^r 

 cage. They are very delicate, and will reipiire some artifi- 

 cial heat during wintenj X 



