Nightingales 77 



surroundings. You may unknowingly disturb her 

 from it and leave it undiscovered, for she has flitted 

 noiselessly away, leaving her presence undetected. 



Nervous of the intruding giant she may be, but 

 she is too ladylike to upraise her voice in clamorous 

 protest ; and silently, amongst the depths of the 

 growth of scrubs, awaits his departure before she slips 

 back again. 



Yet with all this timidity and caution, nightingales 

 are unexpectedly bold ; taking up their abode in * 

 suburban gardens, and building their nests in close 

 proximity to houses. 



In the pretty little Suffolk garden of the rectory I 

 once lived in I have found at least three nightingales* 

 nests ; one, I remember, being only a few yards from the 

 front door, and close to the gravel drive that leads to it. 



The cock bird used to sit (and may still, for 

 aught I know) on a branch of a Scotch fir which 

 grew on the little lawn close to my bedroom win- 

 dows ; and many a night in May have I lain in 

 bed with the casements thrown wide open, the moon- 

 light pouring in, and the song of the nightingale 

 ringing in my ears. 



" I cannot guess what flowers are at my feet, 

 Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, 

 But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet 

 Wherewith the seasonable month endows 

 The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild ; 

 White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine ; 

 Fast fading violets covered up in leaves ; 

 And mid-May's eldest child, 

 The coming musk rose, full of dewy wine, 

 The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 



