102 BIEDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



however, they may be distinguished by their deeper 

 colouring. 



NIGHTINGALE, Philomela Luscinia. This bird, so 

 much better known to the ear than the eye, is toler- 

 ably common throughout the neighbourhood of 

 Taunton, though, in consequence of the dull and 

 uniform colour of its plumage and its shy and re- 

 tiring habits, it is not often seen. Like most of our 

 warblers it is a summer visitor, arriving in this 

 country about the middle of April ; my own notes 

 say about the 21st, but the time of arrival seems to 

 vary considerably, for in the * Zoologist' for 1866 

 there is a notice of the arrival of the Nightingale 

 in the county of Suffolk through a series of years, 

 from 1850 to 1866; and the time appears to have 

 varied from April llth, in 1850, to April 30th, in 

 1860. 



As the Nightingale sings well in confinement it 

 is much sought after by bird-catchers, and conse- 

 quently I am afraid its numbers are considerably 

 diminished. It is tolerably easy to keep in confine- 

 ment until the time of its autumnal migration, when, 

 if not carefully attended to, it often dies or beats it- 

 self to death against its cage in attempts to escape ; 

 but this is not always the case, for with proper care 

 and attention it occasionally lives a long time in con- 

 finement. There is a notice in the 'Zoologist' of 

 one of these birds having lived as long as ten years 

 in confinement. There is also a very interesting 



