Page:Natural History of the Nightingale, John Legg, 1779.djvu/3

 oft melody of tuneful Philomel! delightful are her harmonious trains to chear the gloom of night, and animate the olitary groves!—Nothing can be more agreeable to the traveller as he trolls along the darkome glade, or purues his way through the lonely wood!—The philoopher and the muician liten with equal ardor in the olitary grove, to hear "the ober-uited ongtres trill her lay!"—How pleaing when all the tribes of nature, all the families of the earth are buried in leep; when the linnet and the goldfinch, the blackbird and thruh, the oaring lark, and all the ret of the muical choir have dropt their notes, and are retired to their repoe; then how pleaing to walk by the light of the ilver moon, and to catch the oft, the weet modulations of the nightly erenader!—Often at even will I range the dewy mead, and teal along the ilent hade, to hear the trilling tale of the mournful warbler.

This inimitable ongtres is a great lover of olitude and night. It frequents cool and hady places, and is uually een in hedge-rows or low buhes, as it delights in no high trees, except the oak. For weeks together, if unditurbed, it will it upon the ame tree, unles when moved to atisfy the calls of hunger. Shakepear, therefore, very properly decribes the nightingale itting nightly in the ame place. Singing at night is a peculiarity common to the nightingale only, no other birds found in Great Britain exerting themelves at that eaon. When it pours its charming notes at this time through the ilent vale in the lonely meadow, it is generally found perching in the thicket covert of ome large tree or buh, which it eldom leaves till the morning dawns. The ame celebrated bard I mentioned before has alo touched upon this circumtance—

This admirable choiriter, the mot celebrated of all the feathered tribe, is a regular emigrant. It makes its appearance in our country about the middle of April, and leaves us in Augut. Where the nightingale and other mall birds of paage retire when they forake this iland, cannot with any certainty be determined. Indiputable it is that they repair to ome warrmer climate; and to me it eems probable that Spain or the outh of France is their winter aylum, as they are abolutely incapable of very ditant flights.

I have often oberved that the coming of the nightingale is in ome meaure regulated by the weather, and the tate of the eaon. When the pring has proved forward, it has been een here in March, and the cock has been heard to ing at the beginning of April, epecially toward the evening, when the air has been erene. This preent year, the eaon being remarkably mild, and much forwarder than uual, the nightingale I oberved was here before April commenced; and indeed almot all the other birds of paage that viit this iland in the pring, were arrived by the middle of that month. On the contrary, when the pring comes late, and is cold and evere, as it ometimes happens, the nightingale, and all our ummer birds that annually migrate from one country to another, are retarded in their paage, and are never een here till the vernal eaon is very far advanced.

The haunts of the nightingale are chiefly thick hedges, low coppices, and buhes, epecially where there are little rivulets, brooks, or treams of water near them: it alo delights in olitary groves, equetered meadows, hady places, and the mot retired ituations. It uually hides itelf in the cloet buhes under covert, and conequently is but eldom een. It is naturally of a hy dipoition, and is greatly intimidated at the ight of a man, or any rapacious bird.

In a few days after their arrival in this country they begin to pair, and at this time the cock is more frequent in his ong, in order to attract the attention of the female, and allure her to ubmit to his embraces. in their amo-