206 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



hears the bird sing. But all nightingales do 

 not sing only at night, and it is quite common 

 to hear them in the daytime, where there are 

 many of them. And there are plenty of other 

 birds which sing in the night, such as the 

 chattering little sedge-warbler in our country, 

 and the mocking-bird in America. But both 

 of these mix up their songs with the notes of 

 other birds, while the nightingale is original 

 and like nothing else. Shakespeare is not at 

 all fair to it when he says : 



The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 

 When every goose is cackling, would be thought 

 No better a musician than the wren ; 



for whatever other bird may sing near the 

 nightingale, its notes seem very thin and harsh 

 beside those of the celebrated singer. Our 

 western nightingale has the sweetest voice 

 of the three, but the two eastern ones sing 

 more loudly and strongly. You can judge 

 that the nightingale's song must be far better 

 than any other birds by the fact that the 

 Greeks and Romans noticed it and wrote 

 about it in their poetry, even as far back as 

 Homer's time, when they thought thrushes 



