MIGRATION OF NIGHTINGALES. 239 



in wool, and forwarded by the mail. In the meantime 

 men had been employed to find and take care of several 

 Robin Redbreasts' nests, in places where they might hatch 

 securely. The eggs were^ then placed under the Robins, by 

 whom the young Nightingales were successfully reared, and 

 remained in the neighbourhood till the usual time for mi- 

 gration ; when it is supposed they went away, as they were 

 not seen again after that period, and not one was known 

 to return to the place of its birth. It has been suggested by 

 others, that being a delicate bird, and little calculated to 

 endure the fatigue of long nights, they migrated from the 

 Continent only to the eastern coast of England, and then 

 gradually journeyed inland ; and consequently that this would 

 account for their not being seen in Cornwall, and some of the 

 other western parts of England. But in reply to this, it 

 should be remembered, that the eastern flight across the 

 Channel, unless they all embarked at Calais for the coasts of 

 Essex and Kent, is as wide as that between the western 

 coasts of France, where they are plentiful, and the corres- 

 ponding coasts of England, which they do not visit.* 



The Nightingale stands unrivalled at the head of our sing- 

 ing birds, and may be called, as old Izaak Walton, the angler, 

 terms them, " chiefest of the little nimble musicians of the air, 

 that warble forth their curious ditties with which nature has 

 furnished them to the shame of art ;" but proud as the} 7 may 

 be of their own skill, they are not insensible to the harmony 

 of musical instruments. The German hymn played upon a 

 flute very softly near a bush, in which there was a nest, soon 

 attracted the attention of the birds. Scarcely was the air 

 finished, than the cock was heard to chirp ; and when played 

 a second time it was seen to hop through the bushes with great 

 quickness towards tjie place where the player stood, at the 

 same time making a sort of sub-warbling, which it soon 

 changed into its usual beautiful and lengthened song. 



The Nightingale is usually supposed to withhold his notes 

 till the sun has set, and then to be the only songster left. 



* See p. 87. 



