Natural History of the Nightingale. ear the place where the male is ftaoned. Like the wood lark and most thers of the small bird tribe, the cock f this fpecies is very frequent in his ng during the time of incubation. The reafon of birds being more conant in finging at this period, is to oth and delight the female whilst fiting it is alfo fuppofed to be a fignal id is a fine fong bird: the fly-catcher, he forms us, builds its neft in low bushes, and ys blue eggs, which I fuppofe must be meant the hedge-fparrow: the common wren, he Tares us, lays ixteen, and fometimes twenty gs at a time, and the long tail titmoufe urteen; and it is his opinion that the titice tribe emigrate, and that there is a great salogy between the note of the common, and e golden crowned wren. Indeed it would e an endless task to point out all the mistakes at are to be met with in authors who have rote on this fubject. It is evident that they uld have hut an imperfect knowledge of orithology, and were obliged o copy from oers, who probably themfeives wrote from fpeilation, and not from experience. In the work felf, the reader will find i have been very parcular in this point, and have advanced nothing at what is real truth, and will bear the strictelt xamination. I will not, however, prefume fay that it is abfolutely perfect; but I think ay with propricty-with juftice affert, at it will be found more com dere and more curate than any other hiftory of British rls that has yet appeared in our language. Tho' I have taken the liber y to point out few mistakes in the above mentioned writers, be it from me to depreciate their labours: eir works are truly valuable, and of great orch to the public. Ther are however may errors and many insecu acies which want alification in the writings of al.nofl all our naral hifia: s. It were therefore fincerely be wilhed, that the naturalifts would write ith more exact: fs, more faithfuln fs and preon, as nothing is more rare than to find -ccuey in their deteriptions, nevel y in their ac bent of facts, or delicacy in their ob'ervations. The author of this new performance has taen care not to pit upon this rock, no hing afferted inconsent with reafon, or incom anble with truth; he has had a fire regard > fats and endeavoured to be accurate, parcalar, and copious in ali h sirva ions &c. rd at th-fime time as enter amning as poilible. This work will be ready for publicain a few months: thofe therefore, who re delirous of being poffeffed of a complete d entertaining Hytory of British Bits, may hen purchase it at a very reafon ble price, as he bulk of the whole work, according to the ft calculations, with not exceed two volumes 5 octavo. VOL. X. 529 of fafety to inform her that no danger is near. The nightingale fits about fourteen or fifteen days; and fuch is her patience and perfeverance, that neither the calls of hunger nor the approach of danger can force her from her neft. She is often vifited by the male, who brings her a fupply of food, and fometimes for a little while relieves her in the work of incubation. Agreeable to this are the fentiments of my favourite author Thompfon, for thus fings that excellent, that much admired poet, "The patient dam affiduous fits, Not to be tempted from her tender task, Or by fharp hunger or by fmooth delight, Tho' the whole loofen'd fpring around her blows. Her fympa hifing lover takes his ftand The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies By obferving therefore attentively the place where the nightingale fings, you will probably discover the neft, for the female is ufually in the fame hedge, or however not far off: but if after diligent fearch you cannot find it, make ufe of this expedient. Stick two or three meal worms or caterpillars on the thorns near the place where the old ones frequent, and carefully observe which way they carry them, and you will hear the cry of the young, the old ones alfo will make a great ado, flutter around you with dishevelled wings, and inceffantly exert themselves in a kind of mournful note or plaintive strain when you approach the neft. When you have found the neft, if the young ones are not fledged they must not be touched, for if they are taken out of the nest, they will never continue there afterwards, as they will be anxious to leap out, or the old ones will entice them away. The young fhould be twelve or fourteen days old before they are taken, and though at first they will be apt to refufe their. meat, yet when they are forcibly fed for a few days, they will foon voluntarily take. their food. They fhould 3 Y be pair with the hens. The banchi d the male should be first difcovered, and the trap-cage fhould be placed as a the spot where the bird fings as puẩ ble. Before you fix the faare tur the earth a little, which will t them to look there for food, and s twigs may alfo be placed in the beige at the fame time, with a few sal worms stuck at proper places to b them into the fnare. As foon as you have taken than, their wings fhould be gently tied, be covered up warm, kept very clean, and fed regularly every two hours from morning till night. The best food for them in this premature ftate, is raw flefh, which fhould be minced very fine, and mixed with a fmall quantity of hard boiled egg. As foon as they are capable of feeding themfelves, put each into a fingle cage, at the bottom of which fhould be fome foft kind of ftuff, fuch as wool, hay, or dry mofs. When they are full grown they should have ants mould, and fometimes a few meal worms or caterpillars may be gi-prevent their fluttering and beg ven them. Particular care fhould be themfelves against the cage, wid taken that they are kept clean, for fhould be placed againft a window, and otherwife they will have the cramp, covered over, that the fight of any b and perhaps their claws will drop off:ject may not disturb or intimate the perches in the cage fhould be co-them.At first he should be fed vered with green baize, or fome fuch thing. In moulting time they will fometimes neglect their food for a week or a fortnight, which is a diforder peculiar to thefe birds: a few fpiders given them two or three times a week, or a little faffron mixed with their water, is faid to be effectual in removing this malady. Figs chopped fmall among their meat will produce the fame effect, and make them recover their fiefli. Give them fresh meat every day in the fummer, for it will greatly injure them if it be either tale or four. with fheep's-heart and egg mixed way fine, and it is neceffary to give him, it intervals, other food, which when wid they feed on, fuch as fmall worms, c terpillars, and other infects. If the bird is fullen, and will not eat, take him in your hand, and force open bá bill, giving him the infects, or four or five bits of food as big as peas, to entice him to eat. His, common food thould always be minced with ants, that when he picks up the ants, he may pick up fome of that with them. When you perceive him take to b meat voluntarily, give him lefs ants in it, and finally nothing but fheep's-her and egg; for unless you accustom bir to this diet, he will die inevitably # the approach of winter, when infects can no longer be found. When young, there are no infallible marks to diftinguish the cocks from the hens; but in old birds I have obferved the colours of the male are more vivid and bright than thofe of the female: however, by their finging a dif- In the autumnal seafon, nightingal tinction may be made with facility.will fometimes grow fo enormousy lat, In a state of confinement, the nightin- as to endanger their lives. Therefore gale will fing feven or eight months in when they get flesh too faft, they sho. I the year, viz. from the beginning of be frequently purged, and two or thr November till Midfummer enfuing. fpeckled fpiders fhould be given thes They are very tender birds, and it re- every day. When their legs are gents, quires infinite pains to preferve them they fhould be anointed with la in captivity. fresh butter, or capon's greafe, three Old nightingales taken in the fpring or four days together. If they gro fometimes prove very valuable. Thefe melancholy, put a little liquorice o may easily be caught with lime twigs, fugar-candy in their water. Some or with trap-cages baited with meal-times they are fubje&t to apoftems and worms. The birds taken before the latter end of April are always to be preferred, becaufe foon after the cocks breakings out about the eyes and bill: for these complaints you should alio make ufe of butter or capon's fat. Be fure Natural Hiftory of the Nightingale. 531 to let him have plenty of water, Itraordinary a phænomenon to deferve to keep his eyes very clean. our credit. The melody of the nightingale being erfally admired, many lovers of Is have been induced to rob it of iberty, in order to be poffeffed of fong in that dreary season, when it bient from our climate. In a of captivity, however, its notes lefs pleafing, being neither fo ftrong, old, nor harmonious. The bleak-tained, as their food abounds there as of our winters chills its powers, well as where they haunt. Probably abates the energy of its vocal fa- the air may be too cold for fummer ies; befides, it is of fo delicate and birds of fuch tender conftitutions, der a nature, that it cannot eafily which is the opinion of fome.--It is kept alive in confinement, nor very remarkable that the nightingales rook the harsh confinement of the in Italy, and fome other countries, e." Indeed the mufic of any bird fhould differ from ours in point of fong, captivity produces no very pleafing though the fpecies are the fame. We fations it is but the mirth of a are affured by Pliny, and other hiftole animal, infenfible of its cruel and rians, there are fome of this tribe that ortunate fituation. It is the gay will continue finging, without any inadow and the grove, the contest for termiffion, for feveral days together. emale, the fluttering from hedge to lge, their unconfined liberty, and ir roving at large in the extenfive dfcape of nature, which enables the le fongfters to exalt their strains, and se their notes to a state of perfection. This bird is not to be met with in many parts of Great Britain it is found only in fome of the fouthern counties, being entirely unknown in the more northern parts, particularly in Scotland, Ireland, North-Wales, &c. The reafon of their not vifiting thofe places cannot eafily be afcer -In the narrow cage, m liberty confin'd, and boundlets air, Il are the pretty flaves, their plumage dull, gged, and all its brightening luftre loft; r is that fprightly wildness in their notes, ich clear and vig'rous warbles from the beech. [fong then, ye friends of love and love-taught are the foft tribes, this barb'rous art forbear, on your bofom innocence can win, afic engage, or piety perfuade. THOMPSON. Gefner, indeed, allows the nightinle to be an unparalleled fongiter in a ge, and he declares that with proper ition it may be brought to talk in a ry diftinct and articulate manner.le even relates a long dialogue which ffed between two nightingales at an in at Ratisbon, in which not only the man voice was moft exactly imiated, but great fagacity and ftrength f argument were difplayed on both des. I will not presume to justify is affertion of Gefner's, but leave the eader to judge of it as he thinks pror: it is, however, I think, too ex The nightingale is a pretty longlived bird, and with proper attendance, and good management, will reach eight or nine years. Their lives are protracted or abridged according to the good or bad management of their owners. In the midst of winter, if they are kept clean and warm, they will fing moft delightfully, though with lefs energy and vigour than at the proper feafon, and when wild. It is afferted by fome, that they ufually improve in their fong for the firft fix years, but afterwards decline by degrees. Lord Bacon faith, when the nightingale arrives early, it portends a hot and dry fummer to follow; and if there is any truth in the obfervation, I will fay it prefages the fame when it comes late. Sometimes it hath not arrived in these parts till almoft the middle of May, notwithstanding an extreme hot fummer hath frequently been the confequence. When it hath come early, the fucceeding feafon hath fometimes been remarkably cold and wet. We must not, thefore, always depend upon the prophetical obfervations of great men, though they afpire to reach the temple of fame, and make a great noife in the world. J. L-G. Market Lavington. 3 Y 2 ME dence, as to renew, in this dangas crifis, an alliance, which was fo imper tant to the credit and support of the English government. The fmall fupplies which he read from England fet the talents of this great man in ftill a stronger light. The ardour of the English for foreign coquefts was now extremely abated br time and reflecton: the parliam feems even to have become fenfible of the danger, which might attend their farther progrefs: no fupply of money could be obtained by the regent during his greatest diftreffes; and men inled flowly under his standard, or foon deferted, by reason of the wonderful accounts which had reached England, of the magic and forcery and da bolical power of the Maid of Orleans. It happened, fortunately in this emer Charles, thus crowned and anointed, became more venerable in the eyes of all his fubjects, and seemed, in a manner, to receive anew, from a heavenly commiffion, his title to their allegiance. The inclinations of men fwaying their own belief, no one doubted of the inclinations and prophetic fpirit of the maid; fo many incidents, which paffed all human comprehenfion, left little room to question a fuperior influence:gency, that the bishop of Winchetter, and the zeal and undoubted facts gave credit to every exaggeration, which could fcarce be rendered more wonderful. Laon, Soiffons, Chateau, Thierri, Provins, and many other towns and fortreffes in that neighbourhood, immediately after Charles's coronation, fubmitted to him on the first fummons, and the whole nation was difpofed to give him the moft zealous teftimonies of their duty and affection. now created a cardinal, landed at Calais with a body of five thoufand me, which he was conducting into Bebemia, on a crufade against the Huftes. He was perfuaded to lend those tro to his nephew during the prefent diffculties, and the regent was thereby eabled to take the field, and to oppott the French king, who was advancing with his army to the gates of Paris The extraordinary capacity of the Nothing can imprefs us with a higher duke of Bedford appeared alfo in idea of the wifdom, addrefs, and refo- military operations. He attempted to lution of the duke of Bedford, than reftore the courage of his troops, his being able to maintain himfelf in fo boldly advancing to the face of the ene perilous a fituation, and to preferve my; but he chofe his poils with fomaci fome footing in France, after the de caution, as always to decline a s fection of fo many places, and amidst hat, and to render it impoffibk fr the univerfal inclination of the reft to Charles to attack him. He fill z imitate that contagious example. This tended that prince in all his mer prince feemed prefent every where by ments, covered his own towns and yarhis vigilance and forefight. He em- rifous, and kept himself in a pofturt ployed each refource which fortune reap advantage from every imprudence had yet left him; he held all the En- or falle step of the enemy. The Fren glish garrifons in a pofture of defence; army, which confifted chiefly of volun he kept a watchful eye over every at- teers, who ferved at their own expence, tempt among the French towards an soon after retired, and was diffolved. infurrection; he retained the Pari- Charles went to Bourges, the ordinary fians in obedience, by employing, al- place of his refidence, but not till be ternately, careffes and feverity; and made himself master of Compiegne, knowing that the duke of Burgundy Beauvais, Senlis, Sens, Laval, Lagni was already wavering in his fidelity, St. Denis, and of many places in the he acted with fo much fkill and pru-neighbourhood of Paris, which the af fec Memoirs of the Maid of Orleans. Etions of the people had put into his inds. The regent endeavoured to reve the declining state of his affairs, by ringing over the young king of Engnd, and having him crowned and acnowledged king of France at Paris : 1 the vaffals of the crown, who lived ithin the provinces poffeffed by the nglish, swore, anew, their allegiance, ad did homage to him. But this cemony was cold and infipid in comarifon of the eclat which had attended e coronation of Charles at Rheims; nd the duke of Bedford expected ore effect from an accident, which ut into his hands the person who had een the author of all his calamities. 533 were fo much eclipfed, willingly expofed her to this fatal accident. The envy of her friends on this occafion was not a greater proof of her merit, than the triumph of her enemies. A complete victory would not have given more joy to the English and their partifans. The fervice of Te Deum, which has fo often been profaned by princes, was publicly celebrated on this fortunate event at Paris. The duke of Bedford fancied, that by the captivity of this extraordinary woman, who had blasted all his fucceffes, he would again recover his former afcendant over France; and to pufh farther the prefent advantage, he purchafed the captive from John de Luxembourg, and formed a profecution against her, which, whether it proceeded from vengeance or policy, was barbarous and difhonourable. There was no poffible reafon why Joan fhould not be regarded as a prifoner of war, and be entitled to all the courtefy and good ufage which civilized nations practife towards enemies on thefe occafions. She had never, in her military capacity, forfeited, by any act of treachery or cruelty, her claim to that treatment; fhe was unftained with any civil crime. Even the virtues and the very decorums of her fex had ever been rigidly observed by her; and though her appearing in war, and leading armies to battle, may feem an exception, the had thereby performed fuch fignal service to her prince, that fhe had abundantly compensated for this irregularity, and was even, on that very account, the more an object of praife and admiration. It was neceffary, therefore, for the duke of Bedford to intereft religion fome way in the profecution, and to cover under that cloak his flagrant violation of justice and humanity. The Maid of Orleans, after the coonation of Charles, declared to the ount de Dunois, that her wishes were ow fatisfied, and that fhe had no farher defire than to return to her forher condition, and to the occupations nd course of life which became her ex: but that nobleman, fenfible of he mighty advantages which might till be reaped from her prefence in the rmy, exhorted her to perfevere, till y the final expulfion of the English, he had brought all her prophecies to heir full completion. In purfuance of this advice, fhe threw herself into he town of Compiegne, which was at hat time befieged by the duke of Burgundy, affifted by the earls of Aundel and Suffolk, and the garrifon on her appearance believed themfelves nvincible. But this joy was of fhort laration. The Maid, next day after her arrival, headed a fally upon the quarters of John de Luxembourg. She wice drove the enemy from their entrenchments. Finding their numbers o increase every moment, the ordered retreat. When hard preffed by the ourfuers, fhe turned upon them, and made them again recoil; but being nere deferted by her friends, and furounded by the enemy, she was, at laft,ly after exerting the utmoft valour, taken orifoner by the Burgundians. The common opinion was, that the French officers, finding the merit of every vicory ascribed to her, had, in envy to er renown, by which they themselves The bishop of Beauvais, a man wholdevoted to the English intereft, prefented a petition against Joan, on pretence that he was taken within the bounds of his diocese, and he defired to have her tried by an ecclefiaftical court for forcery, impiety, idolatry, and magic. The University of Paris was |