. Birds in town & village, by . ere was an old orchardof apple, cherry, and walnut trees to each habita-tion, and out of this mass of greenery, which hidthe houses and made the place look more like awood than a village, towered the great elms inrows, and in groups. On first approaching the place I heard, mingledwith many other voices, that of the nightingale;and as it was for the medicine of its pure, freshmelody that I particularly craved, I was glad tofind a lodging in one of the cottages, and toremain there for several weeks. The small care which the nightingale took tolive up
. Birds in town & village, by . ere was an old orchardof apple, cherry, and walnut trees to each habita-tion, and out of this mass of greenery, which hidthe houses and made the place look more like awood than a village, towered the great elms inrows, and in groups. On first approaching the place I heard, mingledwith many other voices, that of the nightingale;and as it was for the medicine of its pure, freshmelody that I particularly craved, I was glad tofind a lodging in one of the cottages, and toremain there for several weeks. The small care which the nightingale took tolive up to his reputation in this place surprisedme a little. Here he could always be heard inthe daytime—not one bird, but a dozen—in dif-ferent parts of the village; but he sang not atnight. This I set down to the fact that thenights were dark and the weather later, when the weather grew warmer, andthere were brilliant moonlight nights, he was stilla silent bird except by day. I was also a little surprised at his tameness. ■%f. NIGHTINGALE. the -medicine, nf Us furc, fresh -melody. BIRDS IN A VILLAGE n On first coming to the village, when I ran afterevery nightingale I heard, to get as near him aspossible, I was occasionally led by the sound toa cottage, and in some instances I found thesinger perched within three or four yards of anopen window or door. At my own cottage, whenthe woman who waited on me shook the break-fast cloth at the front door, the bird that cameto pick up the crumbs was the nightingale—notthe robin. When by chance he met a sparrowthere, he attacked and chased it away. It wasa feast of nightingales. An elderly woman ofthe village explained to me that the nightingalesand other small birds were common and tamein the village, because no person disturbed smile now when recording the good old dameswords. On my second day at the village it happenedto be raining—a warm, mizzling rain withoutwind—and the nightingales were as vocal as infi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1920
