Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/359

Rh urther up stream, where a hen Chaffinch was sitting on her nest in the fork of an alder. On creeping up behind a big boulder, to within about five yards of the nest, I saw a cock Blackbird, Turdus merula, which had made his way to the nest,—in spite of being mobbed by the cock Chaffinch,—peck at the hen-bird till she flew off, and, deliberately picking up an egg in his bill, fly away with it. I was so astonished that I jumped up the bank to try and mark him down, and see what he was going to do with the egg, but unfortunately he entered a small but dense plantation, where I lost all trace of him, and could find no Blackbird's nest with young or eggs. I wish now I had waited to see if he came back for more. I visited the Chaffinch's nest two days afterwards, and the eggs were all gone, but whether taken by the marauding Blackbird I cannot say.— (Heathwold, Goathland).

The Voices of the Blackbird and the Nightingale compared.—There are some slight traces of generic vocal resemblance between these two birds. The Blackbird's rattling alarm, it is true, is widely distinct from the croak of the Nightingale; but the latter exclamation is sometimes spread out, as it were, in a succession of ticking sounds, reminding one of the "lit it it" cry of the Robin, the more simple rattling alarms of the Blackbird, and the rapid "chick ik ik" alarm of the Whitethroat. The Nightingale employs these clicking notes especially towards the young, to whom a single "tick" appears to be addressed as a parental hush. The connection between these sharp sounds and the croak is obvious, for often an exclamation begins with the croak, and merges into a succession of ticks. Similarly the Robin has the habit of beginning the "lit it it" alarm very quickly, and ending slowly. Another note, apparently an alarm, which I have heard (I think) from the female Nightingale, is a single, short, full whistle, closely like the "quilp" alarm of Blackbird and Redwing. I have also heard a Nightingale near its young utter a long high "distress note"—practically the same as the high "distress note" of the Robin; and Dr. A.G. Butler informs me that he has heard the same note in the Nightingale. It has also a simple short squeak, closely like the call of the Robin, but less like the call of the Blackbird. When living at Stroud, I had some difficulty in observing the Nightingale, which was not common there. One day I followed a family party of two old ones and three young, in a thicket, and watched the feeding of the young, having often a very clear view of the whole operation. It was then that I came to the conclusion that the cry of the young Nightingale was practically identical with that of the young Blackbird of the same age, and I so stated my opinion ('Evolution of Bird-Song,' p. 103). Near Eltham I have observed many young Nightingales, and I find that their cry is not like that of the young Blackbird. In making my former observations I must have been misled by