36 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
NIGHTINGALE. 
Davuias Luscrsia, Linn. 
Pl. IX., figs. 8, 9. 
Geogr. distr.—Throughout Western and Central Europe ; common 
in 8. Europe, migrating to Africa before the winter; in Great 
Britain it appears to be restricted to England, arriving early in April. 
Food.—Insects in all stages, spiders, worms, woodlice. 
Nest.—A large and bulky cup-shaped structure, loosely put together ; 
of dead leaves, usually of the oak, within which are coarse, dry, 
flattened bents, rushes or even fine flags, lined with finer bents, 
root fibre, and sometimes a little horsehair. 
Position of nest.—Usually in a depression in the ground, well 
concealed by ferns, grasses, or other short undergrowth at the foot of 
a tree, pollard, or bramble bush; less commonly in the forking base 
of a pollard overhung by fern fronds and rank grass, or even in the 
open places in woods, groves, plantations, gardens, and hedge-rows 
the nest is rarely found above the ground level. 
Number of eggs.—4-6. 
Time of nidrfication.—V-V1; end of May. 
Although the nest of the Nightingale is almost invariably 
placed upon the earth, I met with it, about the year 1875 
or 1876, in a stunted hawthorn in Herne Wood, near the 
village of Herne, Kent, at a height of about two feet from 
the ground. Again in 1882 (as recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ 
for the year following), I found a nest “‘ built fully eighteen 
inches from the ground in a matted bush of furze and 
bramble” near Sittingbourne, in Kent. The first of these 
was only just completed when I found it, the second con- 
tained a single egg. This nest, like many others, is 
generally discovered by the sudden flight of the bird as 
one approaches; the sound made by the wings of a 
startled bird of about this size need be only once heard 
to be recognized; it may be represented by the word 
fferrelup, and this word in bird language signifies, almost 
invariably, ‘my nest is less precious than my own safety.” 
On the wing the Nightingale has a bright russet-red 
appearance; the flight is quick and flurried, but where it 
is common the bird may be often seen, both singing upon 
the branch of a tree and on the wing flying in and out of 
the skirts of a wood. 
The song is the most beautiful combination of sounds 
uttered by any of our songsters, and to listen to five or 
six of these birds in early morning, or at twilight, in the 
dense Kentish woods, has always been one of my chief 
