256 



British Cage Birds. 



breast. The throat, however, is much whiter than the other 

 parts, particularly in the case of male birds. The legs are 

 of a dingy drabby flesh colour. In fully matured birds, the 

 colours are usually darker and brighter. 



Birds confined in cages for long periods of time frequently 

 become duller, and more dingy and smoky-looking in hue, 

 than those which have their liberty. This is more particu- 

 larly the case with birds kept in large towns, and in rooms 

 where fires are constantly burning. 



Young Nightingales, before moulting, are of a russet grey 

 colour on the upper part of their bodies ; their heads and 

 wing coverts are speckled with dull yellowish white spots. 

 The under part of their bodies is of a pale reddish yellow 

 colour, with brown spots on the breast ; their tails are reddish 

 brown. After moulting, they acquire the plumage of adult 

 birds. 



Habits and Breedinq. — The Nightingale is a well-known 

 bird in many of the southern counties of England — Kent and 

 Surrey especially — but is rarely found north of Staffordshire 

 or Derbyshire. It is also located pretty generally throughout 

 Europe. Nightingales frequent low woodland dells, and 

 marshes, where there is a good thick undergrowth of bushes 

 or long grass, and prefer a quiet, secluded spot, with a rippling 

 brook running near by. They likewise locate themselves in 

 the neighbourhood of high, thick, untrimmed hedges, where 

 safe shelter is obtainable. The Nightingale is a bird of 

 passage ; it arrives' in England in the month of April, and 

 departs in August. Birds found after this month are either 

 very late hatched or sickly specimens. These birds always 

 return to the place of their birth, or its immediate neighbour- 

 hood, and in the spring severe battles are frequently fought, 

 among the male birds, for the possession of a nesting-place. 

 Father and son, brother and brother, regardless of all the ties 

 of Nature and affection, enter into severe and desperate combat 

 to secure the place which has been selected by their spouses 

 for breeding ; for it is believed, by the most watchful and 

 observant of ornithologists, that the site of the proposed nest 

 is chosen by the female. 



Nightingales build their nests in thick bushes by the side 

 of a plantation or garden that is in an isolated position, in a 

 grove of bushes, amidst a heap of sticks, or on the ground, 



