THE SPARROW KIND. 



54 1 



perseverance in so minute an animal ! With 

 what a musical propriety are the sounds it 

 produces modulated ! The note at one time 

 drawn out with a Ions; breath, now stealing 

 off into a different cadence, now interrupted 

 by a break, then changing info a new note by 

 an unexpected transition ; now seeming to 

 renew the same strain, then deceiving expec- 

 tation! She sometimes seems to murmur within 

 herself; full, deep, sharp, swift, drawling, 

 trembling; now at the top, the middle, find 

 the bottom of the scale ! In short, in that 

 little bill seems to reside all the melody which 

 man has vainly laboured t() bring from a variety 

 of musical instruments. Some even seem to 

 be possessed of a different song from the rest, 

 and contend with each other with great ardour. 

 The bird overcome is then seen only to dis- 

 continue its song with its life." 



This most famous of the feathered tribe 

 visits England in the beginning of April, and 

 leaves us in August. It is found but in some 

 of the southern parts of the country, being to- 

 tally unknown in Scotland, Ireland, or North 

 Wales. They frequent thick hedges and low 

 coppices, and generally keep in the middle of 

 th>' bush, so that they are rarely seen. They 

 begin their song in the evening, and generally 

 cont ; nue it for the whole night. For weeks 

 together, if undisturbed, they sit upon the 

 same tree; and Siiakspeare rightly describes 

 the nightingale sifting nightly in the same 

 place, which I have frequently observed she 

 seldom departs from. 



From Pliny's description, we should be led 

 to believe this bird possessed of a persevering 

 strain ; but though it is in fact so with the 

 nightingale in Italy, yet in our hedges in 

 England the little songstress is by no means so 

 liberal of her music. Her note is soft, various, 

 and interrupted ; she seldom holds it without 

 a pause above the time that one can count 

 twenty. The nightingale's pausing song would 

 be the proper epithet for this bird's music 

 with us, which is more pleasing than the 

 tvarbling of any other bird, because it is heard 

 at a time when all the rest are silent. 



In the beginning of May, the nightingale 

 prepares to make its nest, which is formed of 

 the leaves of trees, straw, and moss. The 

 nest being very eagerly sought after, is as cun- 

 ningly secreted ; so that but very few of them 

 r^e found by the boys when they go upon 



these pursuits. It is built at the bottom of 

 hedges, where the bushes are thickest and brst 

 covered. While the female continues sitting, 

 the male at a good distance, but ahvays within 

 hearing, cheers the patient hour with his voice, 

 and, by the short interruption of his song, 

 often gives her warning of approaching dan- 

 ger. She lays four or five eggs ; of which but 

 a part in our cold climate come to maturity. 



The delicacy, or rather the fame, of this 

 bird's music, has induced many to abridge its 

 liberty, to be secured of its song. Indeed, the 

 greatest part of what has been written con- 

 cerning it in our country, consists in directions 

 how to manage it for domestic singing ; while 

 the history of the bird is confined to dry re- 

 ceipts for fitting it for the cage. Its song, 

 however, in captivity, is not so very alluring ; 

 and the tyranny of taking it from those hedges 

 where only it is most pleasing, still more de- 

 preciates its imprisoned efforts. Gesner assures 

 us, that it is not only the most agreeable song- 

 ster in a cage, but that it is possessed of a 

 most admirable faculty of talking. He tells 

 the following story in proof of his assertion, 

 which he says was communicated to him by a 

 friend. "Whilst I was at Ilatisbon," says his 

 correspondent, " I put up at an inn, the sign 

 of the Golden Crown, where my host had three 

 nightingales. What 1 am going to repeat is 

 wonderful, almost incredible, and yet is true. 

 The nightingales were placed separately, so 

 that each was shut up by itself in a dark cage. 

 It happened at that time, being the spring of 

 the year, when those birds are wont to sing 

 indefatigably, that I was so afflicted with the 

 stone, that I could sleep but very little all 

 night. It was usual then about midnight, 

 when there was no noise in the house, but all 

 still, to hear the two nightingales janging and 

 talking with each other, and plainly imitating 

 men's discources. For my part I was almost 

 astonished with wonder; for at this time, when 

 all was quiet else, they held conference together, 

 and repeated whatever they had heard among 

 the guests by day. Those two of them that 

 were most notable, and masters of this art, 

 were scarcely ten feet distant from one another. 

 The third hung more remote, so that I could 

 not so well hear it as I lay a-bed. But it is 

 wonderful to tell how those two provked each 

 other; and by answering, invited and drew 

 one another to speak. Yet did they not con 

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