548 



MY GARDEN. 



Besides these, we have the Garden Warbler (Sylvia hortcnsis), the 

 Whitethroat (Curruca cincrcd], the Lessor Whitethroat (Currnca 



FIG. 1183.- Blackcap 



FIG. 1184. Chiff-chaff. 



sylviella), the Wood Warbler (Sylvia sylvicold], and the Chiff-chaff 



(Sylvia Trochilus, fig. 1184). 



Lastly,, above all the other warblers, and unquestionably superior in 



song to any other feathered visitor of 

 my garden, the Nightingale (Philomela 

 Luscinia, fig. 1185) charms us with its 

 sweet melody. 



" Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, 

 Most musical, most melancholy, 

 Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among 

 I woo, to hear thy evening song." 



Fi<?. 1185. Nightingale. MlLTON. 



The neighbours tell me that before I occupied my garden the 

 nightingale was never known to visit the field, so doubtless the shrubs 

 and little trees are an attraction. 



" Where nightingales their love-sick ditty sing : 

 See, meads with purling streams, with flowers the ground, 

 The grottoes cool, with shady poplars crown'd ! " 



DRYDEN. 



Nightingales arrive about the mjddle of April in each year. They 

 are not so common in the valley of the Wandle as they are in the 

 valley of the Darenth and in many parts of Essex. They are not 

 so plentiful at Florence as they are in England, but on the Lake of 



