Nightingales in Song-time 77 



song. Also the mere fact that it is awarded the 

 first place by general opinion is enough to make a 

 certain number of resolutely individual persons 

 aver that, in their opinion, it is actually a little 

 second-rate. But when the nightingale is fairly 

 compared with the thrush, the skylark, the black- 

 bird, the linnet, and all the best of the song-birds 

 with which our country abounds, it is hard to see 

 how it can fail to be awarded the first place. The 

 song of no other bird possesses such variety and 

 intensity, while few can equal it in sweetness. Its 

 chief blemish is in the interrupted character of its 

 flow ; for although a nightingale will often sing for 

 hours without cessation, there is just enough pause 

 between the successive phrases to tantalize, at 

 times, the listening ear, and make the song seem 

 inferior in sustained ease and smoothness to that 

 of the skylark, or even of the song-thrush. Yet, 

 marvellous as is the continuity of the skylark's song, 

 poured forth without a moment's check while the 

 singer is steeply climbing to the zenith, it lasts, 

 after all, but a few minutes at a time ; and the song- 

 thrush, like the nightingale, pauses between its 

 utterances, though not for so long. 



Though there is no truth in the common belief 

 that the nightingale sings only by night, it is un- 

 deniably true that its song is less striking by day. 

 When the nightingale is only one of many eager 

 singers, in each pause of its song the ear is partially 

 distracted by the surrounding babel, and the con- 

 tinuity of the impression is checked. The very 

 force and fire of the song seem also to urge it some- 



