THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 107 
This much-admired songster is one of our plainly 
dressed sylvan musicians, but, like true greatness, 
requires no outward adornment to attract our regards. 
How wonderfully is the wisdom of the Great Creator 
manifested by his equal and impartial distribution 
of his favours to all the feathered race. Thus we 
see the birds of many climes adorned with the most 
splendid plumage, but devoid of those pleasing and 
heaven-taught strains which we find in most of our 
songsters, whose plainness of appearance might other- 
wise cause them to pass unnoticed ; but to these 
simply-apparelled warblers our groves and woods 
are indebted for half their charms. 
The nightingale visits us about the beginning of 
April, and usually leaves us in August. It is a 
solitary bird, seldom leaving the bush or tree where 
it first takes up its abode ; consequently, is seldom 
seen, though so often heard in our groves. The food 
of the nightingale, in its wild state, is worms, ants, 
flies, and green caterpillars, of which they clear the 
bushes and small trees ; towards the end of summer, 
they eat elder-berries and currants. 
The female constructs her nest of dried leaves, 
straw, and moss, and lays from four to five eggs, but 
