110 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[May 2T 
to tlie roller it stretches the spring by its revolution, the string 
' is then passed through the block in the middle of the base, and 
having a knot in it to prevent its slipping back, is restrained 
by the cork slightly holding the string within the hole. Two 
or three pins are stuck into the cork, having impaled the 
larva of a beetle called a mealworm, to be found in mills, 
or a larva of any other kind of beetle, or the beetle itself will 
do as well. The trap is placed on the ground near the locality 
where the bird is either heard or seen, and in a few minutes 
he will descend from his perch to peek one of the worms, 
immediately upon the slightest touch down goes the trap, 
and the bird is caught. Being secured, and brought home 
either in the hat or pocket handkerchief, the first thing I 
do is to give it some water; and having procured its cage or 
aviary, turn it loose into either, taking care, if in a cage, to 
cover it up for a day or two, giving it so much light that it 
can see its food and perch, but so that it cannot see persons 
in the room. I then turn into its cage or aviary a quantity 
of cockroaches or black beetles, as they are commonly known 
by that name, alive in a large basin ; in the course of an hour 
or so, impelled by hunger, it readily takes to these insects 
and swallow one after another till satisfied; and mind you 
it will swallow sometimes three and four at a meal, and 
replenish itself in that w r ay about every half-hour or horn - ; 
of course, a pan of water should also be given it. The 
next day I get some pounded liempseed ready, and also 
a small quantity of boiled bread and milk sufficiently thick 
to form a paste, I mix the boiled bread and milk and hemp- 
seed crushed together, and into this I stick the beetles, 
having first pinched their bodies so as to kill them, and stick 
them head foremost into this said paste, and leave them 
there looking like a plum-pudding, only not quite so nice ; 
the beetles, although deprived of life, move their limbs about 
convulsively while sticking in this paste, which the birds 
observing drop down from their perches and peck out the 
beetles, their rough thighs and legs dragging with them 
portions of the said paste; this they readily swallow with the 
insects, and in a few days, should you be short of insects, the 
birds will feed on the bread and milk alone, having by this 
time acquired the taste and habit of going to the pan con¬ 
taining that food. 
By feeding them in this way, I generally have them sing¬ 
ing in less than a w'eelc. Should it, however, happen that 
no insects are to be had, I then mix up a paste formed of 
lean beef scraped fine and the yolk of an egg boiled hard, 
and opening the bird's beak gently poke a piece the size 
of a pea down its throat; this should be done every hour, 
and w r ater given also by poui’ing a drop down its throat; 
but as beetles are to be had in almost every house, at any 
rate at every baker’s oven, I never have recourse to cram¬ 
ming, which is very tedious, and often unsuccessful. Should 
you not have a supply of beetles to last, I, in addition to the 
beetles, stick small pieces of raw beef into the paste of bread 
and milk and liempseed; and the bird will, in the event of no 
insects being at hand, sometimes take the meat, and some¬ 
times the paste, separately; but, as I said before, there is no 
trouble with the beetles. When once nightingales are recon¬ 
ciled to feeding, you have your song. And towards autumn, 
when insects become scarce, I feed them mostly on the scraped 
beef, and bread and milk, and crushed liempseed. 
I will now transcribe portions of a communication made 
to me by the Bev. Mr. Cornish, of Totness, in Devonshire, 
some years ago, who was a most successful manager of the 
nightingale, which will close this paper; and I shall reserve 
my information relative to the diseases of this bird until 
when I speak of those common to birds in general. 
I should observe that the top of the cage containing night¬ 
ingales, or any species of migratory birds, should be covered 
with green baize, or flannel instead of wood, as they are apt 
to hurt their heads by flying upwards and beating themselves 
about, which is prevented by the baize, as this gives way to 
the impetus of the bird’s attempt at flight upwards. 
The Rev. Mr. Cornish says, “ I have kept nightingales for 
more than thirty years, and they have sung with me in the 
highest perfection; indeed, one is at this moment (viz., Jan. 
7, 1840) singing beautifully, accompanied by the Atracapilla, 
Alauda Arborea and many others. I may as well describe the 
food that is prepared for this charming songster; because this 
will, I have found, keep all the migratories in perfect health, 
with a little variety which I will mention when I come to 
them in then - order:—Lean beef parboiled, with an equal 
quantity of hard-boiled egg, cliopped-up together very small; 
a little cracked liempseed, crumbled bread, and hard egg well 
mixed together, put into their tin pans or drawers; about as 
much as can be taken up with a sixpence ; this must not be 
mixed-up with the beef and egg, but put in the back part of 
then - drawer distinctly by itself. The reason is this: the 
nightingale being rather lax in their viscera, generally this 
last food, particularly the hpmpseed, will have a contrary 
tendency, and keep them stronger. On this food I have kept 
several of these delightful birds seven or eight, years, stout 
in song and high health. As I conclude, you wish to be in¬ 
formed of the particulars relative to their treatment; you 
must excuse me if I am or should be tedious. My birds are 
fed every morning about nine o’clock, at which time they 
have fresh food given them, and a sufficient quantity prepared 
that they may have some again at three o’clock p.m. Their 
sliders are covered with river sand, sifted, and also, which is 
the t/rand secret to keep them well, some old pounded mortar 
put on their sand. This last corrects anything wrong. Their 
sliders are cleaned every day; all their droppings removed, 
but clean sand only three times a week. I would recommend 
two sets of sliders, as the droppings from birds that eat animal 
food are offensive; the other may be washed and cleaned as 
mine are. Their water should be good and fresh.” 
[We have heard it argued that it is the air of Devonshire 
being unhealthy to the nightingale is the cause of its not 
being found wild in that county; Mr. Cornish’s experience 
demonstrates that that cannot be the cause. It is more 
true, we fear, that in many districts this songster of the 
night as well as of the day, is becoming annually more 
scarce, and, if so, then some of our next generation may be 
liable to the Welchman’s mistake, who, when asked whether 
he knew the night song of these birds, said, “ Oh ! yes, but 
we do call them owls.”* 
The time of the arrival of the nightingale varies about 
three weeks. The Rev. Mr. Jenyns found that during twelve 
years the earliest day of its song being heard in Cambridge¬ 
shire varied between the 8tli and 28th of April. 
We have always thought that the nightingale's notes were 
inimitable, but we quite agree with M. Audubon in his esti¬ 
mate of the following composition, which he thus intro¬ 
duces :—“ One day, after partaking of a delicious breakfast 
of buckwheat cakes and sweet milk, under the roof of a 
peasant, I chanced to ask him what he knew of ‘ the night¬ 
ingale.’ ‘Ah, monsieur! that is a bird which sings beauti¬ 
fully ! ’ I then asked him whether he could tell what it sa}s 
when it sings, and my host, after a customary scratching of 
the ear, rose, straightened himself, coughed, and in very 
decent musical tone sang this ditty— 
fe? 
~<s> - 
jstzjc. 
Si»—®— 
le bon Dieu m*a don -ne une femme, Quej’ai tant, tant, 
2 :^ 
a --—»- - 
EEEEEE 
tant, tant bat-tue, Que s’il m’en donne une autre, Je ne 
: 
- :t : 
*- r' , 3 9 
r^ 
3 ® 3 
— 
o- 
r 
J_ 
. L « -4- ■ - 
a— 
a-fs 
..t* t* 
- 
1 
■—r~ 
1 
— # -:—«l_. - 
1 
—i-<- ^ 
ia bat-ter-ais plus, plus, plus, plus, Qu’un petit, qn’un petit, qu’un petit'. 
It is a most true description of tlie expressions of the 
nightingale’s notes, and marks the compass of the bird’s 
voice, the emphasis on the different notes, and the termi¬ 
nating cadences most happily.— Macgillivray's British Birds .] 
* The nightingale, says Mr. Blyth, in his excellent edition of White's i 
History of Selborne, appears to migrate almost due north and south, | 
deviating but very little either to the right or to the left. There are none 
in Brittany, nor in the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, &c.), and the j 
most westward of them probably cross the channel at Cape la Hogue, ^ 
arriving on the coast of Dorsetshire. They thence apparently proceed 
northward, only accidental stragglers being found beyond the third degree j 
of W. longitude, a line which cuts otf the counties of Devonshire and i 
Cornwall, together with all "Wales and Ireland, and by tar the greater 
part of Scotland, in which last kingdom the nightingale has once or twice 
occurred to the eastward only of this meridian. 
