lOO A MIDLAND VILLAGE : EAILWAT AND WOODLAND. 



without any of the shyness he woT:dd. have shown two or three 

 weeks later. 



We have every spring a few pairs of Nightingales in our 

 woods. Except when a wood has been cleared of its under- 

 growth, they may always be found in the same places, and if 

 the accustomed pair is missing in one it is almost sure to be 

 found in another. The edge of a wood is the favourite place, 

 because the bird constantly seeks its food in the open; also 

 perhaps because the best places for the nest are often in the 

 depth of an overgrown hedge, where the cover is thicker than 

 inside a wood. Sitting on the sunny side of such a wood 

 I have often had ample opportunity of hearing and watching 

 a pair : for though always somewhat shy, they are not 

 frightened at a motionless figure, and will generally show 

 themselves if you wait for them, on some prominent bough or bit 

 of railing, or as they descend on the meadow in quest of food. 



I am always surprised that writers on birds have so little 

 to say of the beauty of the Nightingale's form and colouring. 

 It is of the ideal size for a bird, neither too small to be noticed 

 readily, nor so large as the somewhat awkwardly built black- 

 bird or starling. All its parts are in exquisite proportion ; 

 its length of leg gives it a peculiarly sprightly mien, and tail 

 and neck are formed to a perfect balance. Its plumage, as 

 seen, not in an ornithologist's cabinet, but in the living and 

 moving bird a little distance from you, is of three hues, all 

 sober, but all possessing that reality of colour which is so 

 satisfying to the eye on a sunny day. The uniform brown 

 of the head, the wings, and the upper part of the back, is much 



