contending rivals to drive each other from the field. [Illustration: _Plate 18. Cassell's Book of Birds_ THE NIGHTINGALE ____ Luscinia Philomela _Nat. size_] No sooner have the Nightingales arrived in Europe than their song is to be heard almost incessantly. Some few pour forth their trilling notes throughout the long, bright night; but, for the most part, they only sing during the day, except just at the commencement of the breeding season, when the desire to please and attract their mates renders the male birds excited and restless. The nest of the Nightingale is a mere heap of dry leaves, rushes, and grass, with a lining of horsehair, cotton wool, or any similarly elastic material; occasionally twigs and straw are also employed. Naumann mentions an instance of a Nightingale building on a branch five feet from the ground, and of another that made its preparations for its little family in the centre of a heap of dry leaves that had been thrown down in a garden-shed; these are, however, exceptions to the general rule, their nests being, for the most part, placed in low bushes, upon felled trees, or in holes in the ground. The eggs, from four to six in number, have a delicate, glossy, greenish grey shell. Both parents assist in hatching their young, who are tended with great care, the male keeping a very sharp eye indeed upon his mate, lest she should endeavour to leave her charge in order to take a peep at the outer world, or even to stretch her wearied limbs. Bäszler mentions having been much amused upon one occasion, when he had scared a brooding female from her nest, by the cries of reproof and marital pecks that were forcibly employed by her indignant spouse, in order to drive back his partner to her maternal duties. Worms of various kinds, the larvæ of insects, ants, smooth-skinned caterpillars, and some species of beetles, constitute the principal food of the adult birds, and upon these the nestlings are likewise reared. During the autumn they also consume large quantities of berries. The young remain under the care of their parents until the approach of the moulting season. Almost immediately after leaving the shell the young males commence trying their voices, but give little or no indication of their future capabilities in the notes they utter during the first months of their life. It is not until the following spring that they become possessed of their full powers, at which time they seek a mate, and in her honour begin to pour forth a copious flood of sounds, as sweet and enchanting as those of the older birds. The moulting season commences about July, after which the autumn migrations commence. These journeyings are accomplished in families, or small parties, the birds flying with great rapidity to very distant countries. We ourselves have met with them occasionally in the forests of Southern Nubia and Eastern Soudan, and have observed that they appear to make themselves but little conspicuous during their absence from