Nightingale s Nest. 327 



bramble or wild rose roots, or have drifted into some hollow 

 of a bank. Sometimes, though rarely, the position is open 

 to every passer-by, with nothing to conceal it but the resem- 

 blance of the nest and sitting bird, with her russet back to 

 the surrounding colour. The outer circle of the nest is 

 built of dead oak leaves, so arranged that the rim of the 

 cup is broken by their projections, a mode of concealment 

 practised, so far as the writer knows, by the nightingale 

 alone of English birds, though a common device in the 

 nests of tropical species. The lining is made with the 

 skeleton leaves that have fallen in the previous winter, and 

 completed with a few strands of horse-hair, on which the 

 shining olive-brown eggs are laid. There are few prettier 

 sights than that of a nightingale on her nest. The elegance 

 of the bird, the exquisite shades of the russet and grey of its 

 plumage, set in the circle of oak leaves among the briars, 

 suggest a natural harmony and refinement in keeping with 

 the beauty of its unrivalled song." 



