36 
MIGRATION OF NIGHTINGALES. 
lead to unexpected additions to our knowledge of 
the operations of nature, just as a unit or a cipher 
in arithmetic becomes important, simply by taking 
its proper place. 
The migration of Nightingales is attended with 
some peculiarities deserving attention. In some 
parts of England they are to be heard in every 
hedge-row, filling the air, particularly at night, when 
most of our other warblers are silent, with their rich 
melody ; while in other parts, to all appearance as 
well suited to their habits, not one was ever known 
to be heard ; this comparative rarity or abundance 
not unfrequently occurring in spots only a few miles 
apart. It might be supposed that the warmest parts 
of the kingdom were best adapted to their habits ; 
if so, why are they not to be found in the southern 
parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, where we believe 
they are never heard ? As a general rule, it has 
been said, that they are not to be met with north of 
the Trent; but this is not strictly correct, as, in the 
northern parts of Yorkshire, as far as Wetherby, 
they are at least occasional visiters. 
If they are limited to certain districts by the 
nature of their favourite food, it might be interesting 
to discover what this precise food is, so capriciously 
and unaccountably confined to certain spots. We 
have alluded, more than once, to the regular return 
of birds to the same nests and places of their birth ; 
and it might be supposed, that this would solve the 
mystery, the Nightingales naturally returning only 
to those spots where, for time out of mind, a train 
of ancestors might have built before them ; but this 
is not borne out by facts : for a gentleman, who was 
