360 THE NIGHTINGALE. 



of the little prisoner ; some will not sing, except in a dark 

 place ; others like to be near the window, and in the full glare 

 of the sun. If it be desired to teach a bird the habit of singing 

 under any variation of circumstance, the best plan is to ac- 

 custom it to change of place, immediately after the moulting 

 season, when re-learning its song. Some sing best when 

 alone ; others when singing with a neighbour ; though it is 

 found that if three or more be confined in one room, they will 

 never sing equally well. The one who begins to sing first, 

 generally retains its supremacy, and the others either sing in a 

 low tone, only when it is mute, or preserve an entire and 

 obstinate silence. Instances have been known of Nightingales 

 which, under such circumstances, have been silent for years, and 

 have even been mistaken for females ; yet when in a room by 

 themselves, have begun to sing with all their energy of throat 

 and lung. 



Food. In a wild state the Nightingale feeds on insects, 

 especially the small green caterpillars, which are found on the 

 oak and whitethorn; small moths, flies, beetles, and various 

 larvae, which it finds underneath the surface of the earth. In 

 its autumnal migration, it eats currants, and red and black 

 elder-berries. 



When a Nightingale is first caught it should be fed for some 

 days on fresh ants' eggs and meal worms, or on dry ants' eggs, 

 if the fresh are not to be procured. In this case also, some 

 persons make a mixture of hard-boiled eggs, and bullock's 

 heart and bread, with which they cram the bird if it will not 

 feed itself; which they endeavour to induce it to do, by 

 tempting it with meal worms. But the Nightingale's beak is 

 very brittle, and often broken by this rough usage, and the 

 bird does not thrive on the diet ; indeed, no one ought to keep 

 a Nightingale, who cannot command a supply of ants' eggs. 

 The best food in summer is indisputably fresh ants' eggs, and 

 two or three meal worms daily. * To use ants, as some persons 

 do, instead of the eggs, is liable to the objection that it cuts 



* The best plan to ensure a constant supply of meal worms, is to fill a 

 half gallon jar with wheat-bran, barley, or oatmeal, and a few pieces of 

 sugar paper, or old shoe-leather. In this half a pint of meal worms may 

 be thrown, which if allowed to remain for three months, and occasionally 

 moistened with a cloth soaked in beer, will become beetles, which again 

 lay eggs, and propagate their species with great rapidity. One such jar 

 will supply a Nightingale. 



