

Virginian Nightingales 105 



I keep the fact of that nest a profound secret, and 

 I determine not to go near it for a week ; at the end 

 of which time, walking quietly past the bush, I can 

 just see the scarlet bill of the hen bird, where the sun- 

 shine, glinting in, catches it. 



If nothing more comes of it, I feel something has 

 been achieved. 



In a Buckinghamshire garden I have seen a 

 Virginian nightingale seated on her nest ! Before she 

 hatched her eggs I found out there were four ; and 

 never did I feel more ornithologically uplifted than 

 when I saw, after a fortnight's incubation, that four 

 young ones were alive and well. 



Neither did I ever feel more despondingly down- 

 hearted than when, after a week's healthy growth on 

 their part, I discovered that some marauding wretch 

 of a rat, or a cat, or a squirrel, had done away with the 

 whole boiling ! (as they say). 



Or was it a jay ? 



Whatever it was, my feelings were those of rage 

 and despair. 



In about a week those plucky birds had com- 

 menced another nest, which I discovered by quiet 

 watching. 



In a less public spot of the shrubbery, and in a 

 securer position, the second nest was built. It was in 

 a holly tree, in a depending branch, a foot or two 

 above one's head they never seem to build at any 

 great height. 



The laburnums were coming into flower after the 

 hen was steadily sitting, and the male bird used to 



