THE NIGHTINGALE VALLEY 105 



buildings of a solitary farm rise almost on the margin 

 of the pool, and give back an echo which the night- 

 ingales in the copses and thickets on the hillsides, and 

 in the May-trees which overhang the water, never 

 weary of answering. There are few villages without 

 some garden or coppice in which the nightingale may 

 not be heard in those counties which it visits ; but 

 this particular spot has always seemed to the writer its 

 most favoured and best-loved home. The copses are 

 full of the birds, and in the still nights a score of 

 voices may be heard, first completing the full chorus 

 of their song, then silent and listening for a moment, 

 until the echo repeats the last notes, when its challenge 

 is answered by a rush of tumultuous melody. Probably 

 the faintness of the echo's refrain leads them to suppose 

 that it is the song of a bird in some distant grove, and 

 engages the nightingales in common chorus against 

 their unknown rival. 



The cock-birds usually arrive in the valley at the 

 end of the second week in April, and spend at least a 

 week in practising and recalling their song. At such 

 times they are extremely tame, and the writer has often 

 watched from a few yards' distance the singers, who 

 show far less nervousness in practising before a stranger 

 than is often observed in human vocalists. The first 

 long-drawn notes are commonly run through without 

 difficulty, but the subsequent trills and changes can no 

 more be acquired without practice and training by the 

 nightingale than by a human singer. The bird stops, 

 and repeats the song, sometimes carrying it on with a 



