548 



MY GARDEN. 



Besides these, v/e have the Garden Warbler {Sylvia hortensis), the 

 Whitethroat {Curruca cinerea), the Lesser Whitethroat {Curruca 



Fig. 1183. — Blackcap. 



Fig. 1 184. — Chiff-chaff. 



sylvielld), the Wood Warbler {Sylvia sylvicola), the Willow Warbler 

 {Sylvia Trochilus), and the Chiff-chaff {Sylvia rufa, fig. 1184). 



Lastly, above all the other warblers, and unquestionably superior in 



song to any other feathered visitor of 

 my garden, the Nightingale {Philomela 

 /• ^^^^^^^^^ Luscinia, fig. 1 185) charms us with its 



"• "*- ^^^^^^^^^^^ sweet melody. 



" Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly 

 Most musical, most melancholy, 

 Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among 

 I woo, to hear thy evening song.'' 



Fig. 1185.— Nightingale. MiLTON. 



The neighbours tell me that before I occupied my garden the 

 nightingale was never known to visit the field, so doubtless the shrubs 

 and little trees .which have been planted are an attraction. 



" Where nightingales their love-sick ditty sing : 

 See, meads with purling streams, with flowers the ground, 

 The grottoes cool, with shady poplars crown'd ! " 



Dryden. 



Nightingales arrive about the middle of April in each year. They 

 are not so common in the valley of the Wandle as they are in the 

 valley of the Darenth and in many parts of Essex. They are not 

 so plentiful at Florence as they are in England, but on the Lake of 



