NIGHTINGALE. 
125 
land, is one of those mysteries in natural history which 
has long puzzled the ornithologist, some of those coun¬ 
ties which appear to him, in climate and in everything, 
best suited for their summer’s sojourn, being entirely 
unvisited by them. 
I have never at home, during the daytime, heard the 
song of the Nightingale in such perfection, so loud, so 
clear and joyous, as during a few days’ ramble in the 
beautiful neighbourhood of Cintra; every coppice by 
the road-side, every orange-grove resounded with one 
loud burst of song. 
The Nightingale makes its nest, like the robin red¬ 
breast, upon the ground, amongst the roots of trees, 
upon the stump of a felled tree, or upon a hedge-bank; 
its base is composed of loose herbage, rushes, and dry 
leaves; the nest itself is a thick matting of leaves prin¬ 
cipally oak, of rushes, and grass, lined with a thin cover¬ 
ing of finer grass. The eggs are four or five, occasionally 
six in number; they are sometimes of a uniform colour, 
sometimes slightly mottled all over with a somewhat 
darker brown, and sometimes, though rarely, like the 
egg at fig. 2, from the collection of Mr. Bond ; they are 
usually found towards the end of May or early in June. 
It will be seen that the curious variety of the Night¬ 
ingale’s egg which I have figured, is as unusual in form 
as in colour. I have often observed that uncommon 
varieties of eggs, in colour, are also misshapen, both 
produced by an unhealthy bird. 
