Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(142) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Chirps and Chatter. 
ARRIVAL OF NIGHT’S SONGSTER. 
Communications from our friends have made 
it quite evident that the Nightingale has been as 
punctual as ever in arriving on our shores. On 
April 14th, in the neighbourhood of Ware, one 
was heard singing a lusty defiance to the cruel 
east wind that was blowing at the time. Enfield 
readers claim their town as, if not the nearest, 
at any rate the best place near London in which 
to hear the Nightingale, for every lane in the 
old Chase resounds with the song on a 
summer’s evening. We have often heard its 
were “ tiou-tiou-tiou, ut-ut-ut-ut-ut, tchitchou, 
tchitchou, tchit-tchit, rrrrrrrrouit! ” These are 
very like the representations of bird song given 
long ago by Aristophanes, who, by the way, 
made the Nightingale feminine, as poets before 
and after him have done in allusion to' the 
Philomela myth, though it is the cock alone that 
sings. 
THE HAUNT OF THE ’GALES. 
It has always been a problem why the 
Nightingale should favour some districts and 
Photo, copyright,] The Javan Peacock in Full Display. by w. s. Btmdge. 
sweet notes in Epping Forest, at Chingford, 
High Beech, and Lough ton. 
FALSE ALARMS. 
There is always risk of false alarms in con¬ 
nection with the “first Nightingale ” of the year, 
which is very often really a Song-Thrush. In 
early April the Song Thrush sings far into the 
evening, and its plaintive note deceives many 
who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the 
king of song. Anyone who actually hears the 
bird may be curious to compare his impressions 
of its song as he would write it down with those 
communicated to the “ Times ” nearly half a 
century ago by a correspondent with a musical 
ear. He found that the most striking phrases 
shun others. It might be supposed that the 
warmer districts would be most congenial to 
their habits, yet Nightingales are not found in 
Cornwall or in South Devon, and they are 
seldom heard northward of York, while they are 
plentiful in Denmark. A century ago a patriotic 
Scot, Sir John Sinclair, tried to establish the 
Nightingale in Scotland. He commissioned a 
London dealer to purchase Nightingales’ eggs 
at the liberal price of one shilling each. These 
were well packed in wool and sent to Scotland 
by mail coach. A number of trustworthy men 
had previously been engaged to take especial 
care of all Robin Redbreasts’ nests in places where 
the eggs could be hatched in safety. The Robins’ 
eggs were removed and replaced by those of the 
