302 SYLVIAD.A. 
Among the best judges of the powers of the Nightingale, 
the birds taken in the county of Surrey are considered to 
possess the finest quality of song. By particular feeding 
and judicious management, a male may be kept in song for 
three months together ; and I remember to have heard it 
stated by a successful keeper of Nightingales, that a bird 
of his had sung upon one hundred and fourteen successive 
days. 
The localities frequented by the Nightingale are woods 
having thick undergrowth, low coppices, plantations, and 
hedgerows. The extensive grounds around London which 
are cultivated by market-gardeners, are favourite haunts 
with this bird; low damp meadows near streams are also 
frequented; and M. Vieillot says they are partial to the 
vicinity of an echo. From the pairing time to the hatching 
of the young, the male continues in full song, not only 
singing at intervals throughout the day, but frequently 
serenading his partner during the night ; and Pennant says, 
the name of the bird is derived from our term night, and 
the Saxon word galan, to sing. The nest of this bird is 
almost always placed on the ground: advantage is taken 
of a slight depression in the soil, some dead oak and horn- 
beam leaves are deposited therein, with a few dried bents 
and portions of rushes, lined internally towards the bottom 
with fine fibrous roots; but so loosely constructed, that it 
is generally necessary to pass thread or string several times 
round the whole nest, before removing it, if desirous of 
preserving its form. The eggs are four or five in number, 
of a uniform olive brown colour, and measuring ten lines in 
length by eight lines and a half in breadth. The eggs are 
produced in May, and the young are hatched in June. 
From this period the song of the male is heard no more; a 
single low croaking note is uttered as a warning should 
