362 THE NIGHTINGALE. 



The female lays five or six greenish brown eggs, which she 

 hatches in a fortnight. The young, which, to avoid the attacks 

 of various animals, hop out of the nest before they can fly, are 

 fed with small moths and caterpillars. Before the first 

 moulting they have no point of resemblance to the old birds, 

 except the red tail ; for the upper part of the body is rusty 

 grey; the head and wing coverts are spotted with yellowish 

 white ; and the under part of the body is rusty yellow, with 

 dark brown spots on the breast. After moulting, they can 

 scarcely be distinguished from the old birds, except by the 

 presence of a scattered yellow feather, or spot, on the back of the 

 head and neck, or near the beak and eyes. If this charac- 

 teristic be wanting, the possessor of the bird must wait. 

 Should it prove a young male, he begins to sing, or, as bird- 

 fanciers call it, to record. Even this sign is not quite 

 satisfactory, as the young females also record, and continue to 

 do so until April ; though their song is neither so loud nor so 

 sustained, and is unaccompanied by so visible an inflation of 

 the throat. 



The following remarks may be useful to those who wish to 

 try the experiment of rearing a young Nightingale from the 

 nest. In a brood the lighter coloured birds are always the 

 males; which again may be known by their white throats. 

 The females are darker, or rather redder and browner. They 

 are to be fed on ants' eggs, and soaked and grated bread. The 

 males begin to record before their tails are grown. If the old 

 birds be taken with the brood, they will continue to attend 

 to the young. The Nightingale may occasionally be induced 

 to breed in confinement, if a healthy and well-bred pair be 

 allowed the sole possession of a room well filled with green 

 pine branches. 



Diseases. The Nightingale rarely passes through the moult- 

 ing season without some symptoms of indisposition ; the best- 

 remedy for which is a spider or two, and a supply of good 

 food. When suffering from disordered stomach they puff up their 

 feathers, and sit with half- closed eyes, and heads under their 

 wings, for hours at a time. They will be relieved by ants' 

 eggs, a spider, or a little saffron in their water sufficient to 

 give it an orange tinge. The diseases to which Nightingales 

 are subject, in common with other birds, may be treated in the 

 manner mentioned in the Introduction. It is necessary to 



