THE NIGHTINGALE. 361 



off the chance of a future supply. When fresh ants' egga 

 cannot be procured, dry ones should be given, mixed with 

 Swedish turnips, and bullock's heart boiled, dried, and grated 

 small. The turnip, which may be preserved fresh in a cellar for 

 a long time, will aid the stomach and bowels in the process of 

 digestion. A little lean beef or mutton, minced small, may be oc- 

 casionally given with good effect. The cheapest food consists of 

 ripe elderberries, dried like raisins, and mixed with ants' eggs. 



In winter, some bird fanciers make a small loaf of pea-meal 

 and eggs, grate it, make it into a paste with water, and mix it 

 with dry ants' eggs. Others, who are anxious to be very 

 economical, crush poppy seeds in a mortar, to express the oil, 

 and mix them with bread-crumbs. To this, which is becoming 

 their usual diet in Thuringia, the Nightingale grows ac- 

 customed by degrees, but, as might be expected, from the cir- 

 cumstance, that their stomachs are not naturally adapted to 

 vegetable food, at last dies of decline. There are besides many 

 complicated receipts for Nightingale's food, but they are all 

 more or less noxious, and need not be repeated here ; while, 

 on the contrary, the amateur who conforms his practice to the 

 directions given above, may rely upon having healthy birds 

 and good singers. 



I have also tried the experiment of allowing the Nightin- 

 gale the range of the aviary with the other birds. tinder 

 these circumstances they have eaten the common universal 

 paste ; but it does not seem to be sufficiently nutritious for 

 them, as, after a few months, they fall into a decline and die, 

 if not fed again with Nightingale's food. They also require 

 a daily supply of water for drinking and bathing. 



Breeding. Each Nightingale in spring occupies and defends 

 its own station, which in pairing time often occasions very 

 violent contests among the males. And as the young birds 

 generally return to the place where they have been bred, 

 these combats are frequently carried on between parents and 

 children ; and all the ties of relationship, which were once so 

 strong, are entirely forgotten. 



The Nightingale builds its nest in groves or gardens, in 

 some thick bush, or heap of sticks, or even on the ground, if 

 the spot be surrounded with brushwood or long grass. It is 

 carelessly built of small dry twigs and leaves, with an inner 

 layer of grass stalks and roots, and sometimes lined with hair. 



