134 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



Strange Scansor is he : for, like Him of the West,* 

 He never constructs for himself any nest; 



de tons les plumages."* On this I beg leave to observe, that, 

 whatever may be the fact in France, relative to the nightin- 

 gale's preference for places where there is an echo, it is by no 

 means so in this country. I suspect, that there is more poetry 

 than truth in the statement. 



The nightingale is the most celebrated of all the feathered 

 race for its song. The poets have, in all ages, and most Euro- 

 pean countries, made it the theme of their verses. It visits this 

 country towards the latter end of April, and takes its departure 

 in August, as it is said; but I suspect not so soon. We still 

 want a knowledge of more facts to make us completely 

 acquainted with the natural history of this bird. Montagu, 

 who appears to have been a very accurate observer, says that, if 

 by accident the female is killed, the male resumes his song 

 again, and will continue to sing very late in the summer, or till 

 he finds another mate. It is rarely found in Scotland, the west 

 of Devonshire, or Cornwall ; and, I conclude, not in Ireland. 

 Its usual habitation in this country is within the segment of 

 a circle, Dover being the centre, whose radii do not exceed in 

 length two hundred miles, and not one hundred and fifty, as has 

 been frequently stated. Its time of singing, in its natural state, 

 is only from its arrival till about Midsummer; but it will, it is 

 said, when domesticated, sing nine months in the year. Its food, 

 in a domesticated state, may be spiders, wood-lice, ants' eggs, 

 flies, and worms; it is chiefly, however, I understand, German 

 paste, a composition well known in the bird-shops of the metro- 

 polis. It requires to be kept in a warm place in winter, or it 

 will die. It is said that the nightingale is common in the bird- 

 shops, not only at Venice, but even at Moscow, and that it there 



* Emberiza pecoris, or Cow-bunting : see Part II. 

 t Etudes de la Nature, torn. iii. p. 309, Hamburgh edit. 1797. 

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