292 NOVEMBER. 



the pleasant cares of their nests or young 

 broods, and subjecting them to a close prison, 

 is detestable — doubly detestable in the case of 

 migratory birds. They have not merely the 

 common love of liberty, but the instinct of mi- 

 gration to struggle with ; and it may be safely 

 asserted, that out of every ten nightingales so 

 caught, nine pine away and die. Yet the cap- 

 ture of nightingales is very extensively prac- 

 tised. The bird-catchers declare them to be 

 the most easily taken of all birds ; and scarcely 

 can one of these glorious songsters alight in a 

 copse or a thicket, but these kidnappers are 

 upon it. Some of these men assure me that the 

 female birds arrive about ten days later than the 

 males, whose songs give notice of their retreats, 

 on hearing which the females alight ; therefore, 

 when nightingales first appear, the bird-catchers 

 are almost sure of taking only male birds, which, 

 being the singers, are the only ones they want. 

 The nightingale, a bird which God has created 

 to fly from land to land to crown the pleasant- 

 ness of spring with the most delicious music, or 

 a lark, which he has made to soar, in the rap- 

 ture of its heart, up to Heaven's gates, " crib- 

 bed, cabined, and confined" in a narrow cage by 

 man, is one of the most melancholy objects on 

 earth. Let those who have hearts for it keep 

 them, and listen to them with what pleasure 



