NIGHTINGALE 1 1 7 



bush to bush, it flies buoyantly and smoothly when fairly on the wing ; and in 

 spring, when the males quarrel over their nests, their flight is quick and straight 

 as an arrow. 



By many persons the song of the nightingale is considered of incomparable 

 beauty ; and the suppleness of throat of this songster, its power and flexibility of 

 voice, the rapidity of its trills and rolls, and the beauty and expression of its con- 

 cluding notes are proverbial. Slowly and with silvery clearness the song begins, 

 then it rises, gradually increasing in power, changing into a phrase of lament or 

 complaint, closing in a rapid succession of similar notes, the clear, bell-like sounds 

 ending in a shake of thrilling vehemence. When singing, the bird dwells between 

 one bar and another, but never really pauses, since it unites the bars by a few soft 

 and almost inaudible notes. The richness and variety of the melody, sung with 

 such extraordinary power, show the exceedingly strong construction of a nightin- 

 gale's throat ; in fact the muscles are much more developed in the throat of this 

 species and its relatives than in any other singing bird. A good nightingale will 

 sing from twenty to twenty-four times in succession. When singing, it generally 

 perches on the top of a bush or branch of a tree, with throat distended, beak wide 

 open, and tail drooping, and is so little afraid of man that it often allows a passer-by 

 to stand and watch for a long time. The immigration opens with the arrival of some 

 of the male birds and continues during the whole of spring, the males that arrive 

 start singing at once, by day as well as by night, as a call to the females as they 

 pass. Except in pairing-time, nightingales are only to be heard singing at certain 

 times, beginning during the hour before sunrise. After breakfast they sing 

 for the second time at irregular intervals up to about three o'clock in the after- 

 noon, and in the twilight and evening they commence again, but not with such 

 zest as in the morning. Some nightingales sing only during the night, but these 

 are not heard before the end of April or in May, and even then only when the 

 nights are warm. 



The song-time of the nightingale is from the middle of April, when it arrives, 

 until the middle of June, when there are young birds in the nest, and the feeding 

 of the brood leaves no time for singing. Between the end of June and the begin- 

 ning of September nightingales leave Europe, to pass the winter in Africa. On 

 their return in spring, fierce battles often take place between these birds and their 

 neighbours. The cocks arrive from four to eight days earlier than the females, 

 and generally take up their abode in the same locality as the previous season. 

 Where nightingales find everything they require in the way of food and shelter, 

 they often nest in small colonies. In some parts of the Continent they are common 

 enough, but in other districts, where the conditions seem just as favourable, they 

 may never be seen. The range includes central and southern Europe generally, 

 but the species is more common in the west, the limit to the north-east being 

 the valley of the Vistula. Nightingales visit Greece, Turkey, the south of Russia, 

 Asia Minor and Palestine, and frequently the south of Denmark and England south 

 of York. Recently nightingales have been heard in Devonshire, where they were 

 supposed to be unknown. In Denmark they nest very often close to the northern 

 nightingale. In the south of Sweden the latter bird (D. philomela) begins to 

 be the more numerous. In Germany the river Peene, flowing into the Baltic 



