he has "frequently seen the Nightingale in October, and once in November." This species, in a state of captivity, as is the case with those other of our migrant songsters which do not undergo a moulting in the spring, usually begin to sing about Christmas, or a little after; so that, if it ever do continue in this country through the whole winter, it is difficult to conceive how its melody should escape notice during the earlier months of the year: certainly, in the cage, it never sings more delightfully than at this period.

The males of most migratory birds arrive sooner, and depart later in the season, than the other sex.-It is all but an universal law among migratory land birds, for the male to arrive several days before the other sex, and to depart later in the autumn: in other words, male birds would appear, in general, to be more susceptible of the influence of heat, and female birds of that of cold. Not that I consider that change of temperature is, by any means, the ultimate cause of birds seasonably shifting their habitations, nor is it, in all cases, even an element in the mystery, for the Swift and the adult Cuckoo retire southward at the very hottest period of the year, and when their food, also, is apparently most abundant. Still it is a predisposing cause, which tends to increase the force— and to accelerate the period-of that periodical migrative impulse which would certainly be evinced in due time, even were the temperature to continue the same; as the above-named cases of certain species leaving us during the heats of summer attest sufficiently.

Supposed cause of this-Male birds appear for the most part to be considerably more lively, and sprightly, than their mates, fonder of exposing themselves in the sunshine, and may possibly, on this account, be sooner affected by the influence of that luminary; while the females, on the other hand, are in general much more hidling in their habits, and living more in the shade, may probably, for this reason, be sooner chilled by the cold air of autumn, and more tardily excited by the genial influence of a vernal sun, than if they kept less to the covert. It is a fact extremely well known to birdcatchers and others, that the arrival of the male Nightingale precedes invariably that of the other sex by full ten days or a fortnight; and they cease to capture them from the period when the hen birds first make their appearance.

The Nightingale's period and time of singing.-The bursting forth of this species into full song is affected chiefly by the weather, for they very much dislike cold winds, though they seem to be quite indifferent about rain: if the weather prove favourable, they sing out immediately on their arrival in the woods. Then is the time

to hear them to most advantage, for the song slackens, at least, is only delivered at intervals, after they have paired. Towards the close of May, it is heard gradually less and less frequent, till it ceases altogether; and, in general, it is continued for a longer period by night than by day. They sing much more frequently at midnight, than in the evening; about eight or nine o'clock not a single Nightingale will, perhaps, be heard, when, an hour or two afterwards, all is music. A correspondent who has minutely studied the habits of this species, in Derbyshire, Mr. Neville Wood, thus accurately writes me word upon this subject. "Clear moonlight nights are very favourable to the song. In dark and windy nights you never can be sure of hearing it; although even heavy and continued rain does not appear to disturb it in the least. Sometimes, however, on these unmusical nights, the shutting of an adjoining gate, the striking of a church clock, the passing of carriages, and even the walking of passengers on the hard road, will frequently induce it to commence its melody, notwithstanding its original intention of taking a night's repose. Sometimes when my friends had come on purpose to hear the Nightingale in my neighbourhood, it would remain obstinately silent, and my friends were obliged to depart disappointed. At length, however, I hit on an expedient which seldom failed—the whistling in imitation of its strains. I one night started a Ring Pigeon close to where the Nightingale was singing, without the latter seeming at all alarmed; but if, on the contrary, I happened to make a very slight rustling among the dead leaves lying on all sides, it would instantly discontinue its song."

Its enemies.—This, of course, arose from the Nightingale's instinctive fear of Weasels, and other small beasts of prey, which, it is probable, led on by their keen sense of smelling, not unfrequently attempt to pounce upon the hen bird when she is sitting; and, indeed, Nightingales, finding their chief subsistence on the ground, must be very much exposed to the attacks of enemies of this kind, and are no doubt always upon the alert to avoid them; the dry fallen leaves, among which they chiefly reside, giving notice, by a rustling sound, of the very lightest footsteps that approach. Throughout all animated nature, the chances of the prey are balanced with a wonderful degree of nicety against those of the preyer; and the same unobtrusive, retiring, habits, which endanger this species to become the prey of small carnivorous quadrupeds, also exempt it, on the other hand, from the attacks of most predatory birds.

It ceases to sing a little before Midsummer.-The music of the Nightingale is rarely heard after the first, or, at most, the second, week in June; but it appears, from Montagu's experiments, that if the hen bird be taken from her nest, the male will resume his song, and will continue to sing till very late in the summer, or until his notes have attracted another mate. From this, therefore, it follows, that the Nightingale does not lose his power of voice at Midsummer, as some have stated; and we might consequently infer, with Mr. Knapp, that the true reason of this bird always ceasing its melody at this period is, that his time is now wholly occupied in procuring food for his young family; but, as it is well known that caged Nightingales, which have no nestlings to provide for, invariably discontinue their song at precisely the same time with the wild birds, we must, of course, endeavour to assign some other cause for its silence. Probably the change which then takes place in its whole system, preparatory to the autumnal renovation of plumage, affects the Nightingale more immediately than most other birds, and requires the exciting cause of being in want of a mate to counteract it; yet I am aware of no species which, in general, moults more easily than this, and, in confinement, none suffer less during this change.

May be closely approached when singing.-When the Nightingale is singing, concealed in a bush, he will not suffer himself to be approached too near, and, though he does not immediately fly, he ceases to sing, and signifies his displeasure by a peculiar harsh croak (resembling the sound carre, pronounced with a rolling of the r's); and if, upon his repeating this three or four times, the intruder should not retire, he flies, or, sometimes, merely hops circuitously along the ground, to another bush; still, if we advance very gently, so that he may not be startled (and he will thus often permit of a closer approach than the generality of our singing birds), he will sometimes shew himself, and sing loudly, within a couple of yards of the spectator, when the considerable dilatation of his throat will be very obvious, and when it is impossible not to admire the lightness and elegance of his form and movements, and the amazingly long hops which, with effortless ease, he takes from bough to bough.

Both sexes utter a plaintive cry when any one is near the nest.— After the young are hatched, should any person approach their nest, the parent Nightingales are extremely clamorous, uttering a loud and very plaintive monotonous cry (resembling hweep), and repeating, at intervals, their usual harsh croak, so well known in places where these birds abound. The nest is,however, most exceedingly

difficult to discover, the colour of the eggs, and also of the young birds, being exactly that of the ground, or rather of the decayed leaves, among which, under covert of a thick bush, it is most usually concealed.

Courtship.-As is the case with most other feathered musicians, the male Nightingale first establishes himself in some convenient and suitable spot; and the wandering females are attracted to him by the melody of his voice; both sexes (as I will presently shew), in all probability returning, for the most part, to the exact locality they had left the previous autumn: so that, likely enough, the very same pair not unfrequently proceed again together with the business of nidification.

Nidification.—The nest is composed externally of decayed leaves, similar to those which cover the ground around it, and which appear to have been laid on wet, that they might adhere the better together. The specimen now before me, is thus of a tolerably compact structure; but sometimes they are very frail. It is lined, first, generally, with skeleton leaves, which most writers seem to have mistaken for small rootlets, and over these is laid a little dry grass, and, sometimes, horse-hair. The eggs are from four to six in number, (and, not unfrequently, these are not all hatched), of a greenish brown colour, which is sometimes broken into small spots, which are of course darker upon a lighter ground, and are thickest at the large end. They vary considerably in size. About fourteen days are required to hatch them, and the young are, in their first plumage, mottled, and not very unlike a young Robin; each feather of the upper parts having a pale spot at the tip, and those of the under being edged with black. They never breed more than once in the season; and when a nest is discovered much later than the usual time, some accident must have certainly happened to a former brood.

Site of the Nest.-Bechstein, a rather celebrated German writer in this department of natural history, but who studied the habits of birds more as observed under the restraints of captivity than as free denizens of the groves and hedges, describes the Nightingale's nest to be "built in a grove or orchard, among a heap of branches, or on a thorn bush, or the trunk of a tree surrounded by briars; or even on the ground, where it may be hidden by tall grass, or thick bushes." The last mentioned is the only situation whereon I have ever known it to be placed, nor can I find a single British author who corroborates the former part of this account. The nest is hardly, in fact, sufficiently coherent to be placed elsewhere than on

the ground, or on some equally solid foundation. Still, I think that it is as well just to mention the foregoing passage in M. Bechstein's work, as this author is, in general, extremely accurate in what he advances.

The Nightingale has bred in confinement.-There have been some instances recorded of the Nightingale breeding in captivity; and I have been informed, by a friend whose veracity is not to be questioned, that himself once succeeded in pairing a Nightingale with a female Redbreast, which latter produced four eggs, but unfortunately died egg-bound, when about to lay a fifth. It is a pity that these eggs were not placed under some other bird, as the hybrids would have been extremely interesting, in more points of view than one.

Moult. This species moults its plumage but once in the year, towards the close of summer; and the young (as in all other dentirostral birds)* sheds all its first feathers, with the exception of the wing and tail primaries, very soon after leaving the nest, assuming the garb and appearance of the adult bird some time before it quits us for a warmer region.

Its Song, as in the Thrush genus, is not wholly innate.-It is a fact, very well worthy of remark, that young Nightingales, reared from the nest, or caught before they leave us in the autumn, (unless brought up under an old bird), are never known to display the splendid musical attainments of those which come over in the spring: which proves that, in this particular species, the song is for the most part acquired, rather than innate; as is also the case with the different Thrushes,-those which are brought up in cities, where they cannot hear their free brethren, never repeating the true wild notes of their kind, but intermingling with such notes as they do sing, a variety of strange noises which they hear from the street. Accordingly, it has been observed by Mr. Sweet, (and I could mention many instances in corroboration,) that “ a young Nightingale is apt to catch all that it hears, and to be deficient of many of the ordinary notes of its species. I had one," he relates, "for three years, and it never sang a stave worth listening to,-the year before last I turned it out, [he should have stated at what season of the year, but I should opine towards the close of summer], and it continued in the gardens round the house until it left the

The Mufflin, (Mecistura vulgaris), and the Bearded Pinnock, (Calamophilus biarmicus), are in so far exceptions to this generalization, that they shed, during the first autumn, the primary feathers of the tail, but not those of the wings.