No bird has been written about so much by poets as the nightingale. Its song is supposed to be the most beautiful of all and nobody has been quite able to describe it. As a matter of fact, this attempt at describing it goes back to Aristophanes, the ancient Greek writer!

According to the poets, the nightingale sings only at night and at almost any season of the year. But this isn’t true. The nightingale is a migratory bird and in England, for example, can only be heard between the middle of April and the middle of June. The nightingale does not visit Ireland, Wales, or Scotland. On the continent of Europe it is quite abundant in the south, and even goes as far as Iran, Arabia, Abyssinia, Algeria, and the Gold Coast of Africa.

Only the male nightingale sings. His melody is the song of courtship to his mate, which remains silent in a neighboring bush or tree. He sings during the day as well as at night, but because of other birds, his song is not noticed so much then.

The male keeps singing until the female has hatched out her brood. Then he remains quiet so as not to attract enemies to the nest. He stays on guard, and his notes are short calls to tell his mate that all is well, or to warn her of some danger.

While the nightingale sings one of the most beautiful songs of all birds, its plumage is very inconspicuous. Male and female are very much alike, a reddish-brown above and dull grayish-white beneath.

The nest the nightingales build is somewhat unusual. It is placed on or near the ground. The outside of the nest consists mostly of dead leaves set up vertically. In the midst of this is a deep cuplike hollow, neatly lined with fibers from roots. It is very loosely constructed and a very slight touch can disturb it. There are from four to six eggs of a deep olive color.