THE NIGHTINGALE 445 



tones (" Glockentone "). Whether the thrush-nightingale has, like 

 ours, "that marvellous crescendo on a single note, which no other 

 birds attempt," l is not recorded. 



In their habits the two forms do not appear to differ, but it is 

 stated that the thrush-nightingale shows even a stronger liking than 

 our own species for the vicinity of water or marshy meadows. Their 

 eggs, again, are of the same coloration, those of the Northern form 

 being, as one might expect, a little larger. 



Enough has been said to show that, so far as the evidence goes, 

 our nightingale can make a good claim to be, if not unequalled, yet 

 still unsurpassed as a songster. Thus reassured, we can, with the 

 tranquillity of an unshaken faith, proceed to consider more closely 

 its art and life. 



The charm of the nightingale's music is said to be enhanced by 

 the fact that it is heard in the silence of the night. This is so ; for the 

 same song heard by day, as it often is, seems not quite the same, 

 almost an echo of itself. Nor is this hard to realise. To stand at 

 night near some dark thicket, made darker by the moonlit sky behind 

 it, and deeper by a lurking sense of mystery within it, there to wait, 

 and then, without warning, from the innermost thicket itself, to hear 

 uprising through the startled silence a sudden stream of impassioned 

 music, sweet yet strong, and almost fierce in its directness ; so to hear 

 it, and as suddenly to hear it cease, leaving the silence waiting; 

 to realise that these all-prevailing notes issue from the vibrating 

 throat of one small bird that has surely in it something to kindle 

 a little spark in the dullest imagination, and stir chords in hearts 

 the least responsive. It has, in truth, struck chords in some of the 

 most responsive hearts of every age ; it has inspired far greater music 

 than itself, and, in so doing, has itself grown greater, for the song we 

 hear is transfigured and magnified beyond reality in the mind of the 

 listener by numberless inspirations drawn from the souls of the great 

 immortals. 



1 Warde Fowler, A Year ivith the Birds, p. 106. 



