84 Nightingales 



For instance, one would have thought that Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall, with their wooded glens and 

 streams, would have attracted these birds, and also 

 Wales and parts of Yorkshire ; but in such districts 

 of England they are extremely local or scarce, whereas 

 in Suffolk they are abundant, sitting boldly on the 

 almost bare branches of the roadside hedges in the 

 middle of April, and singing loudly. Hampshire, 

 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and 

 Kent are their favourite counties, where they are 

 found in abundance, and are perhaps (at least one 

 hopes so) on the increase. 



It is miserably cruel to imprison newly-arrived 

 nightingales, a large percentage of which succumb ; 

 but, thanks to the increasing love for wild birds in 

 England, with their consequent special protection 

 under the Wild Birds' Protection Act, it is probable 

 that the Whitechapel bird-trappers do not get so many 

 opportunities of catching the poor nightingales as they 

 formerly had. 



They have worked enough wanton mischief and 

 destruction amongst the goldfinches, birds which do 

 incalculable good to farming by feeding so very much 

 upon thistle seeds. 



As to what harm various species of birds do to 

 gardens and agricultural land, there is undoubtedly 

 much exaggeration and ignorance. People see what 

 they think is harm done, whilst they fail to observe 

 the benefit that is wrought. They are very indignant 

 at the loss of their fruit. The blackbirds and thrushes 

 have taken their strawberries and currants ; the bull- 



