NIGHTINGALE. 
51 
of plantations in other parts of the county, and wrote : — “ Xone more pugnacious 
than this bird, for no sooner has it arrived than it becomes a very tyrant, chasing 
its own species in every direction with great fury.” The latest date on which 
it has been heard by ]\Ir. ^lacaulay, who finds it every year in the vicinity of 
Kibworth, where it appears to be more common than in any other part of the 
county, was 24th June, 1879, and he says (‘Mid. Xat.,’ 1881, p. 255) that 
the average date of its jirst song is 20th April Mr. Ingram writes me that 
it amves at Belvoir “ in April, and frequents Barkstone, the Kennel Woods, 
and Calcraft’s Bushes, breeding in each of these woods.” Although — in spite 
of the false alarms raised by the singing of Thrushes, Blackcaps, and especially 
of Eeed and Sedge- Warblers to which I have, several times, been imdted to listen 
— it has really sung at Braunstone within the last few years, the first time I heard 
it in Leicestershire was on 9th May, 1885, in a spinney by the canal-side at 
Wistow. It was singing in a very lazy and fitful manner, being, probably, a 
new aixival; otherwise, the cold weather which then prevailed had something 
to do with its faulty vocalisation. However, it sang just sufficiently to identify 
it. The next day Mr. Macaulay drove me to the same spot, and, the sun then 
shining brightly and the air being a little warmer, we both heard and saw it 
very distinctly. I narrate this, not for the benefit of Xaturalists, who can, of 
course, discriminate between the song of this bird and that of any other species, 
but with a \dew to correct the popular error that the X'ightingale only sings at 
night, the fact being that the Reed and Sedge-^yarhlers sing more frequently 
at night, and the Nightingale by day, especially during bright sunshine. I 
am unwilling to believe that Shakespeare did not know this, especially as 
Stratford itself abounds with Nightingales, as I can vouch for when calling to 
mind a certain boating-excursion on a lovely, sunny iMay morning, some years 
ago, when I heard, within a very short distance of the town, many Nightingales 
singing together, in a place which, I believe, is called “ The Brake.” Nevertheless, 
Shakespeare says : — 
“ The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
'tt'hen every goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than the wren.” 
This digression is prompted by the fact that, when the Rev. I\Ir. Haweis held 
forth to the Leicester Ifit. and Phil. Soc. on “ Music and Noise ” (8th Nov., 1886), 
he thought so little of bird-music in general, and of the Nightingale’s song in 
particular, as to contemptuously characterize it as “ twitter ” ! ! ! 
3Ir. Gr. H. Storer writes : — “ Braunstone Spinney is every season visited by 
it, also a coppice on the Hinckley Road near a bye-path leading to Kirby Muxloe, 
and also Grlen Magna. The nearest locality to the town that I am aware of is 
a copse at Stoneygate, near Mr. R. Toller’s house, where I have heard it several 
times. The latest date that I have heard its voice was on ‘Jubilee Day’ — 
June 21st, 1887 — at the canal-side, Wistow Park.” 
