ii2 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



this quiet-looking bird may fight to death with a 

 rival ; anon he was overcome with joy more 

 merry than a blackcap or that mountebank among 

 birds, the whitethroat. 



We went nearer, close to the bushes in which he 

 was perched, and the music was all the sweeter. 

 Here had Nature set one of her masterpieces. 

 Every emotion seems to have attained its greatest 

 development in some animal. The sterner guide 

 predacious creatures to their prey ; fear is every- 

 where ; but love and song are remarkably the 

 endowment of the nightingale. Where else shall 

 we find notes so pure ? Our highest compliments 

 to human singers attribute some of the refinement 

 and. passion of this bird. He produces the purest 

 tones that the world hears. He alone is complete 

 master of crescendos from faintest to loudest, pro- 

 duced without effort, as if liberated from his 

 exulting breast. 



We drew nearer yet ; and then he was clearly 

 visible against the sky, and not more than a yard 

 distant. With drooping wings and tail half-spread ; 

 his throat swelled by every pean ; his graceful form 

 leaning somewhat forward ; heeding not the strange 



