36 MIGRATION OF NIGHTINGALES, 



lead to unexpected additions to our knowledge of 

 the operations of nature, just as a unit or a cipher 

 in arithmetic becomes important, simply by taking 

 its proper place. 



The migration of Nightingales is attended with 

 some peculiarities deserving attention. In .some 

 parts of England, they are to be heard in every 

 hedge-row, filling the air, particularly at night, when 

 most of our other warblers -are silent, with their rich 

 melody; while in other parts, to all appearance, as 

 well suited to their habits, not one was ever known 

 to be heard; this comparative rarity or abundance 

 not unfrequently occurring in spots only a few miles 

 apart. It might be supposed that the warmest parts 

 of the kingdom were best adapted to their habits; 

 if so, why are they not to be found in the southern 

 parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, where we believe 

 they are never heard? As a general rule, it has 

 been said, that they are not to be met with north of 

 the Trent; but this is not strictly correct, as in the 

 northern parts of Yorkshire, as far as Wetherby, 

 they are at least occasional visiters. 



If they are limited to certain districts by the 

 nature of their favourite food, it might be interesting 

 to discover what this precise food is, so capriciously 

 and unaccountably confined to certain spots. We 

 have alluded, more than once, to the regular return 

 of birds to the same nests and places of their birth ; 

 and it might be supposed, that this would solve the 

 mystery, the Nightingales naturally returning only 

 to those spots where, for time out of mind, a train 

 of ancestors might have built before them ; but this 

 is not borne out by facts : for a gentleman, who was 



