"A Hunt for the Nightingale!" 325 



for it cannot resist a meal-worm, but this is compensated in 

 some measure by the equal difficulty with which it is caught 

 a second time should it once escape. The knowledge of 

 this has led, in some localities, to a practice called ' spark- 

 ing,' i.e., capturing the birds and then releasing them. As 

 much as ^5 has been paid by the residents in Epping 

 Forest in spring to a professional bird-catcher to 'spark' all 

 he could. They must have been plentiful enough in days 

 long past, as we read of a Roman emperor regaling himself 

 on a dish of nightingales' tongues ! Attempts have been 

 frequently but unsuccessfully made to introduce the bird 

 to localities where it is not found. Evidently some ' en- 

 vironment' is wanting to induce it to take "up its abode 

 in any place in which food, climate, and surroundings are 

 not suitable." 



" An East Kent vicar," writing to the Standard on 

 April 3, 1893, respecting "Early Flowers," adds: "Is 

 it quite certain that the nightingale has been heard at Tor- 

 quay? It used to be an article of ornithological faith that 

 that sweetest of songsters never visited the counties of Devon 

 and Cornwall." But from the facts we have here presented, 

 it is almost certain either that stray nightingales do now 

 visit certain parts of Devon, or else that natural history 

 observation in these regions is more thorough and exact 

 than it used to be. 



One of the most interesting and amusing natural history 

 sketches produced is that of Mr. John Burroughs, titled, 

 "A Hunt for the Nightingale," republished from the Century, 

 in the volume " Fresh Fields " (David Douglas). Though 

 Mr. Burroughs reached England in the middle of May, it 

 did not strike him to go in search of this minstrel till the 

 1 7th of June, by which time the full song is over. If it is 

 ever heard after that, it is in the case of a second nesting 

 and brooding, and the song in this case is invariably weaker, 

 more broken, and disconnected than the earlier song. It 

 is even very doubtful if that five minutes' song which Mr 



