204 
NATURAL HISTORY 
chards, where it makes great havoc among the buds of 
trees. 
The cock is in size equal to the hen, but has a flatter 
crown,' and excels her in the beauty of its colours. In a 
state of nature this bird has but three cries, all of which 
are unpleasant: but if a man deigns to instruct it metho- 
dically, and accustoms it to fitle,, mellower, and more 
lengthened strains, it will listen with attention; and the 
docile bird, whether male or female, without relinquish- 
ing its native airs, will imitate exactly, and sometimes 
even surpass, its master. 
These birds must not be taken too young; they should 
be at least twelve days old: at first they must be fed the 
same as the young linnet, chaffinch, &c. with bread, milk, 
and rape-seed, made into a paste; and, when grown up, 
with rape and canary-seed, three-fouths rape, and 
one-fourth canary. They, as well as the starlings, re- 
quire much pains to be taken with them in the early part 
of their education, and should never be fed without what 
they are wished to learn being repeated to them; they 
soon grow attentive, and generally by the time they are 
three months old, will begin to repeat to themselves, af- 
ter which a very few lessons will render them perfect. 
Nightingale. (PI. 33.) This universally admired 
songster is not remarkable for the variety, or richness of 
its tints; the upper part of the body being of a rusty 
brown, tinged with olive; the under parts of a pale ash- 
colour, inclining to white about the throat and belly. Its 
music, however, is exquisitely soft and harmonious, and 
is rendered still more pleasing as being exerted in the 
night, when the oth£r warblers are all silent. 
The nightingale visits England in the beginning of 
April, and generally retires in August. It is only found 
in some of the southern parts of the country, being to- 
tally unknown in Scotland, Ireland, and North Wales; 
and as it generally keeps in the middle of its favourite 
bush or tree, it is but rarely seen. The female constructs 
her nest of the leaves of trees, straw, and. moss, and 
usually lays four or five eggs; but it seldom happens, 
even in the temperate climate of England, that all these 
