352 
A HISTORY OF THE NIGHTINGALE, 
young Nightingales are fed by their parents chiefly on small green caterpillars, 
probably, as Mr. Selby suggests, those of a Tenthredo. The adult birds seek 
their subsistence mainly on the ground, among decaying leaves, hopping about 
like a Thrush or Robin, and feeding on insects of all descriptions, more parti¬ 
cularly the larvae of Beetles; in autumn they evince a partiality for Elder-berries, 
but are much less frugivorous than the different Fauvets • attacking only those 
smaller fruits and berries which they are able to pluck and swallow entire. 
When in confinement, they are easily kept on a mixture of bread and hard-boiled 
eggs, chopped up together; but the more insect-food is given to them the better, 
and if they can be brought to feed in part upon bread and milk—which they will 
not always do readily at first, though they afterwards become extremely fond 
of it—they will thrive and sing upon this mixed diet to perfection. Indeed, the 
principal art of keeping cage-birds healthy, conjoined with due attention to clean¬ 
liness, is to vary their food judiciously, or the digestive energies, as in ourselves, 
become soon impaired. All that is not salt, or pungent, which is brought to a 
dinner-table, will suit the appetites of the generality of insectivorous birds. 
It remains only to offer a few remarks on the geographic distribution of the 
Nightingale, which appears to be confined to Europe and northern Africa. In 
Britain they only occur occasionally beyond the third meridian of western longi¬ 
tude, a line that cuts off Devonshire and Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, and the greater 
part of Scotland; while, on the Continent, they visit Denmark and even Sweden, 
From the facts I have learned relative to their absence or presence in particular 
districts, I infer that their seasonal migrations are performed almost due north 
and south, deviating very little indeed either to the right or left. The most 
western locality where they are known to arrive regularly on the English coast, 
is Portland in Dorsetshire, from which point they are found to extend northward, 
without spreading towards the west. Near the metropolis they are not uncom¬ 
mon, in all suitable districts, and indeed are perhaps no where more numerous 
than along the whole valley of the Thames. They resort to the coppices, and 
shrubby gardens and plantations, and in the open country are only found where 
the hedges are high and straggling. It does not appear that the geological 
structure of the soil exerts any marked influence on their diffusion. 
North Brixton , Surrey , 
May 15, 1838. 
