26 AUDUBON ON THE NIGHTINGALE. 



derstand that, after having spied its prey, the bird stopped for an 

 instant, quickly bent its legs, lowered its head without changing, as 

 it were, the general position of its body, then took up the insect, 

 and swallowed it at once, looked around, and flew to the very 

 twig which it had a few moments previously left. On all such occa- 

 sions, during those few days of lassitude, and, indeed, at almost all 

 other periods of the stay of this species in France, the least atten- 

 tive observer will see, that on its alighting on a branch to rest, a cer- 

 tain tremulous action of the wings takes place, whether those 

 members droop or are in their ordinary position. After three or 

 four days the birds evidently became more circumspect or shy, while 

 a corresponding improvement took place in their aspect. .Their 

 motions, though not quick at any time, always seemed to me to par- 

 take of more elegance, as if produced by the knowledge that the 

 arrival of their partners, and the season of song and love, were at 

 hand. An attentiveness to the notes of all the passing birds about 

 them, I thought, was very perceptible ; and when it propitiously 

 happened that one of them was produced by a female Nightingale, 

 the males would simultaneously fly with speed to the spot, and at 

 once seek for the fair one, which, by the way, I should say, arrived 

 singly, and in the same manner as the male had done some days 

 previously. I, moreover, discovered that this species travels alto^ 

 gether under night, and, I believe, singly ; because, on seeing these 

 birds alight about daybreak, I never observed more than one 

 at a time, although, on several occasions, I have seen one, two, or 

 even three, come towards the ground within the lapse of half an 

 hour or so, one coming after the other at the distance, as I should 

 conceive, of from eight to sixteen miles. I am also pretty well satis- 

 fied, that in this species, as in many others, the older males and 

 older females reach their destinations first, after which the others 

 according to their respective strength of body. 



The arrival of the Nightingale in the portions of the country of 

 which I speak, varies by a full fortnight, according to the tem- 

 perature of the season, as I have observed some of them on the 

 25th of March, and in other seasons not before the 5th or 10th of 

 April. The male generally precedes the female by a few days, and 

 the first sight of the female appears to bring forth its musical 

 powers. During the whole period of incubation the males are in 

 full song, and I have heard these birds sing until within a few days 

 of their departure about the middle of August. But this may pos- 

 sibly have been overlooked by students of nature, who having heard 

 the song of the Nightingale, at a very early period, were not aware 

 that at the same moment the bird had already formed a nest, and 

 its mate was snugly incubating. 



Dr. Latham states, that, as is usual with the migratory 

 Warblers, the male remains on the spot to which it first 



