BRITISH song-biuds. 93 



Two gentlemen, walking in the enwons of Lon- 

 don, close by a copse, were struck by the sweet- 

 ness and wonderful richness of the notes of a night- 

 ingale, wliich sung in a strain superior to any 

 they had ever heard, though in the habit of hear- 

 ing many. The place was a valley, with brushwood 

 on one side ; all the notes sounded double, the ef- 

 fect of an echo, which may account for the great 

 richness of the bu'd's song. A woodlark, perhaps 

 attracted by it, flew, perched near the spot, and 

 endeavoui'ed to out^de the nightingale; another 

 woodlark immediately appeared, and placed him- 

 self scarce an hundred paces from the first, and 

 under these happened to be another nightingale. 

 These four bu'ds warbled out their notes, for near- 

 ly an hour, in strains the most delightful, — ^yet 

 with such seeming contention, that it was amu- 

 sing to see the keenness of these pigmy rivals. The 

 larks gave way first, and went off; the nightin- 

 gales soon followed. A short time after, one of the 

 gentlemen, while humming a tune, was astonished 

 to hear himself accompanied by one of the night- 

 ingales, which had returned unnoticed ; and, in a 

 few minutes after, the other nightingale reappear- 

 ed, and did the same. The accuracy, manage- 

 ment, and flexibility of voice displayed by these 



