NOTES AND QUERIES. 149 



the back garden at 9 a.m. A Lesser Whitethroat, which I had been 

 waiting for, evidently arrived at the same time, and this bird, too, 

 finally mated, and a brood was reared on our premises. The 

 Nightingale was mostly singing all day, from the 24th to the 28th, 

 yet it was not until the latter date that it began to sing at night, 

 when it commenced some time before 10 p.m., and this night-song 

 continued until May 6th, when I detected the arrival of a female, 

 and from that time it ceased. The song usually commenced at about 

 9.45 p.m., and must have continued throughout the night — the bird 

 would be singing at midnight, I heard it whenever awake, and it 

 would still be singing at daybreak. Eain stopped it at once — the 

 night of the 3rd was wet and gloomy, and except for one or two out- 

 bursts at 10 p.m., the bird was silent, and the following night, 

 although singing with great vigour, it instantly ceased on rain 

 commencing to fall at midnight. I first discovered the presence of 

 a female at 2 p.m. on May 6th, and believe she had but just arrived, 

 and from that time, except for an occasional attempt at about 10 p.m., 

 the night song ceased, although another Nightingale was singing at 

 a distance of little over two hundred yards away. It was the male 

 who selected the spot, and he seemed determined that no alteration 

 should be made, if I may judge by his conduct when in the presence 

 of the female, and accordingly she commenced to build on the morn- 

 ing of May 9th, and the nest was finished and contained one egg on 

 the loth. As far as I know, the female did all the building, and 

 she appeared to work until 9 a.m., or a little later, and then left off 

 for the day. The nest, constructed of the usual dead oak leaves, &c, 

 was built upon some bundles of old pea-boughs which had been 

 stacked against a laurel hedge, preparatory to being burned, and was 

 at a height of 3ft. above the ground. Sitting commenced May 19th 

 on five eggs, a duty apparently undertaken only by the female, and 

 she was removing the egg-shells on the evening of June 2nd, the 

 young leaving the nest on the 14th of that month. I expected to be 

 able to see something of these young birds after leaving the nest, but 

 it was only with great difficulty that anything could be seen of them ; 

 I do not think more than one at a time was ever seen by me, though 

 they must have often been quite near me in the garden. With the 

 parent birds, however, it was very different — they were more tame 

 and confiding than the familiar Eobin — but the presence of a cat 

 was instantly detected, and they never left it all the time it remained 

 anywhere near the nest or young. The young birds made more 

 noise while being fed in the nest than I supposed would be the case. 



