636 NIGHTINGALE 



exercises at all hours of the day and night. The song itself is inde- 

 scribable, though several attempts, from the time of Aristophanes to 

 the present, have been made to express in syllables the sound of its 

 many notes; and its effects on those that hear it depend so much on 

 their personal disposition as to be as varied as are its tones. To 

 some they suggest melancholy ; and many poets have discanted on 

 the bird (which they nearly always make of the feminine gender) 

 leaning its breast against a thorn and pouring forth its melody in 

 anguish. It is accordingly to be observed that the cock alone sings, 

 and that there is no reason to suppose that the cause and intent of 

 his SONG, unsurpassed though it be, differ in any respect from that 

 of other birds. Sadness, therefore, is certainly the last impelling 

 sentiment that can be properly assigned in this case. In great 

 contrast to the Nightingale's pre-eminent voice is the inconspicuous 

 coloration of its plumage, which is alike in both sexes, and is of a 

 reddish -brown above and dull greyish -white beneath, the breast 

 being rather darker, and the rufous tail shewing the only bright 

 tint. The range of this bird in Europe has already been so fully 

 described (GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, pp. 3 39-341) as to render 

 a further account of it needless. The Nightingale reaches its 

 English home about the middle of April, 1 the males (as is usual 

 among migratory birds) arriving some days before the females ; and, 

 often stopping on their way, letting their song be heard in places 

 they do not habitually frequent, pass to their proper breeding- 

 quarters. At this time they run very great danger from bird- 

 catchers, for their capture is effected with facility, and it is painful 

 to add that of those then caught nine-tenths are said to die within a 

 month. Fortunately for the species, it receives great protection from 

 the practice of game-preserving, which guards from intrusion so many 

 of the localities it affects, and there is probably no country in which 

 the Nightingale breeds more abundantly and in greater security 

 than in England. On the cocks being joined by their partners, 

 the work for which the long and hazardous journey of both has 

 been undertaken is speedily begun, and before long the nest is 

 completed. This is of a rather uncommon kind, being placed on or 

 near the ground, the outworks consisting chiefly of a great number of 



1 Poets and novelists are apt to command at will the song of this bird, 

 irrespective of season. If the appearance of truth is to be regarded, it is danger- 

 ous to introduce a Nightingale as singing in England before the 15th of April or 

 after the 15th of June. The "Early Nightingale" of newspaper paragraphs is 

 generally a Song-Thrush. Mr. Harting has pointed out to me that the well-known 

 and beautiful passage in which Izaak Walton speaks of this bird's song is an 

 adaptation of one in D'Arcussia's Lettres de Philoierax A Philofalco (No. 24) ; but 

 the way in which "Walton turns the idea expressed shews great superiority over 

 the original, the words of which are " quel doit estre le concert des Anges du 

 Ciel, puis que ces Anges terrestres nous extasient par leurs chants ? " 



