CHAP, xiv.j LIMITS OF MIGRATION 439 



E.-A. Not at all. One can only guess that there 

 may exist some unknown peculiarity in its constitution 

 which makes it thrive on the chalk and the geological 

 rubbish, and not do well on the granite and other 

 ancient rocks. But the Nightingale is not only thus in- 

 explicably bounded in its distant pilgrimages ; even within 

 those limits it is apparently capricious and local in its 

 haunts. 



C. Ah ! That I was not aware of. 



E.-A. We are now not more than two or three miles 

 from my house, and you will expect, when we return 

 there, that by throwing open the windows or stepping 

 into the garden, we can hear the same sweet music that 

 your curiosity just now put a stop to. But you will be 

 disappointed. My grounds and meadows lie in a nook 

 of land contiguous to two parishes which are consolidated 

 into one living, but is not in either parish. In these 

 two parishes Nightingales are sufficiently abundant, 

 and are regular visitants ; but, during the whole time 

 that I have lived where I do, they have never crossed 

 the boundary to me, to favour us with a song. During 

 the season we can hear them singing lustily about half 

 a mile off. The only natural line of demarcation between 

 the locality they affect and that they avoid, is a shallow 

 brook about two yards wide ; and we have on this side 

 of the stream everything which is supposed usually to 

 attract them, namely, plenty of wood, water, red-ants, 

 glow-worms, and quiet. 



C. There must surely be some explanation of this last 

 fact. 



E.-A. Doubtless. The prime cause I imagine to be, 

 that I am not far from a large city, and am therefore 

 within such easy reach of the bird-catchers. Nightin- 



