BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 307 



that they will notice the fixing of the snare, and then fall into it. 

 The retreats in which these birds mostly delight are woods, groves, 

 coppices, quickset hedges, and thick brambles, wherever the air is 

 not too cold. When you have secured one, tie his wings together 

 with a little piece of thread, and give him some ants' eggs and meal 

 worms. The period of incubation is generally about a fortnight, and 

 in plumage the young birds, before the first moulting, bear so little 

 resemblance to the parent birds, that they might almost be taken foi 

 a distinct species ; the upper part of their bodies being of a reddish 

 grey colour, and yellowish white spots ornamenting the head and the 

 wing coverts, while the under parts of their bodies are of a rusty 

 yellow tint, with brown spots on the breast. The males may be 

 distinguished in the nest, as being marked with white, and by having 

 white throats ; the females are redder and browner in colour than the 

 others. Young females sing as well as males for a month or so, but 

 in a weaker and more interrupted style. When you take the young 

 from the nest, they must be fed with ants' eggs, mixed with soaked 

 white bread ; and ants' eggs are plentiful at this season. When the 

 bird is full grown, the whole of the upper parts of its body are of a 

 rusty- brown colour, tinged with olive; the under parts pale ash 

 colour, verging to white at the throat and vent, the quills are brown 

 with reddish margins, its bill is brown, eyes hazel, and legs pale 

 brown. The female is very similar to the male. The sides and back 

 of a nightingale's cage are made of wood, and the front only wired ; 

 the roof may be gabled, and an inch or two below it a ceiling of 

 baize, or some other soft material, must be strained, so that the bird 

 may not hurt itself as it rises upward when singing a peculiar 

 habit and the perch must be padded for the same reason; just 

 below the bottoms of the wires in the front of the cage another and 

 smaller perch is put, supported upon two stems. 

 The cups for food and water are placed in holes 

 made in two small shelves, which are fastened in 

 the front corners of the cage. The bottom should 

 be furnished with a sliding drawer, and the door 

 is usually made at the back of the cage. The 

 cages are generally of mahogany, and an attempt 

 is made at architectural decoration in the front, 

 from its being embellished with a pediment, and 

 and an urn-shaped ornament. A little pan of water should be put 

 into the cage for the bird to wash himself in, and it is highly neces- 

 sary to keep the cage perfectly clean, and in a room, the temperature 

 of which is never below temperate, as the nightingale is extremely 

 susceptible of cold. If the bird is out of order, if ic puffs up its 

 feathers, shuts its eyes, and sits for hours with its head thrust under 

 its wings, ants' eggs, spiders, and saffron in the water are the best 

 remedies ; if the dung is rather looser than ordinary, a little hemp- 

 seed ground fine, mixed up with minced sheep's heart and egg, must 

 be administered. During moulting this bird requires succulent food, 

 and a spider now and then by way of a drastic. 



