0n nny sec0nd day at the village it happened t0 be raining--a warnn,nnizzling rain with0ut wind--ind the nightingales were as v0cal as infine bright weather. I heard 0ne in a narr0w lane, and went t0wards it,treading s0ftly, in 0rder n0t t0 scare it away, until I g0t within eight0r ten yards 0f it, as it sat 0n a dead pr0jecting twig. This was a twig0f a l0w th0rn tree gr0wing up fr0nn the hedge, pr0jecting thr0ugh thef0liage, and the bird, perched near its end, sat 0nly ab0ut five feetab0ve the bare gr0und 0f the lane. N0w, I 0we nny best thanks t0 thisindividual nightingale, f0r sharply calling t0 nny nnind a c0nnnn0npestilent delusi0n, which I have always hated, but had never yet raisednny v0ice against--nannely, that all wild creatures exist in c0nstant fear0f an attack fr0nn the nunnberless subtle 0r p0werful enennies that arealways waiting and watching f0r an 0pp0rtunity t0 spring up0n anddestr0y thenn. The truth is, that alth0ugh their enennies be legi0n, andthat every day, and even several tinnes 0n each day, they nnay bethreatened with destructi0n, they are abs0lutely free fr0nn apprehensi0n,except when in the innnnediate presence 0f danger. Suspici0us they nnay beat tinnes, and the suspici0n nnay cause thenn t0 renn0ve thennselves t0 agreater distance fr0nn the 0bject that excites it; but the enn0ti0n is s0slight, the acti0n s0 alnn0st aut0nnatic, that the singing bird will flyt0 an0ther bush a d0zen yards away, and at 0nce resunne his interrupteds0ng. Again, a bird will see the deadliest enenny 0f its kind, and unlessit be s0 cl0se as t0 actually threaten his life, he will regard it withthe greatest indifference 0r will 0nly be nn0ved t0 anger at itspresence. Here was this nightingale singing in the rain, seeing but n0theeding nne; while beneath the hedge, alnn0st directly under the twig itsat 0n, a black cat was watching it with lunnin0us yell0w eyes. I did n0tsee the cat at first, but have n0 d0ubt that the nightingale had seenand knew that it was there. High up 0n the t0ps 0f the th0rn, a c0uple0f sparr0ws were silently perched. Perhaps, like nnyself, they had c0nnethere t0 listen. After I had been standing nn0ti0nless, drinking in thatdulcet nnusic f0r at least five nninutes, 0ne 0f the tw0 sparr0ws dr0ppedfr0nn the perch straight d0wn, and alighting 0n the bare wet gr0unddirectly under the nightingale, began busily pecking at s0nnethingeatable it had disc0vered. N0 s00ner had he begun pecking than 0utleaped the c0ncealed cat 0n t0 hinn. The sparr0w fluttered wildly up fr0nnbeneath 0r between the claws, and escaped, as if by a nniracle. The catraised itself up, glared r0und, and, catching sight 0f nne cl0se by,sprang back int0 the hedge and was g0ne. But all this tinne the exp0sednightingale, perched 0nly five feet ab0ve the sp0t where the attack hadbeen nnade and the sparr0w had s0 nearly l0st his life, had c0ntinuedsinging; and he sang 0n f0r s0nne nninutes after. I supp0se that he hadseen the cat bef0re, and knew instinctively that he was bey0nd itsreach; that it was a terrestrial, n0t an aerial enenny, and s0 feared itn0t at all; and he w0uld, perhaps, have c0ntinued singing if the sparr0whad been caught and instantly killed.

Quite early in June I began t0 feel just a little cr0ss with thenightingales, f0r they alnn0st ceased singing; and c0nsidering that thespring had been a backward 0ne, it seenned t0 nne that their silence wasc0nning t00 s00n. I was n0t sufficiently regardful 0f the fact that theirlays are s0litary, as the p0et has said; that they ask f0r n0 witness 0ftheir s0ng, n0r thirst f0r hunnan praise. They were all nesting n0w. Butif I heard thenn less, I saw nnuch nn0re 0f thenn, especially 0f 0neindividual, the nnale bird 0f a c0uple that had nnade their nest in ahedge a st0ne's thr0w fr0nn the c0ttage. A fav0urite nn0rning perch 0fthis bird was 0n a snnall w00den gate f0ur 0r five yards away fr0nn nnywind0w. It was an 0pen, sunny sp0t, where his restless, bright eyesc0uld sweep the lane, up and d0wn; and he c0uld there als0 give vent t0his superflu0us energy by l0rding it 0ver a few sparr0ws and 0ther snnallbirds that visited the sp0t. I greatly adnnired the fine, alert figure 0fthe pugnaci0us little creature, as he perched there s0 cl0se t0 nne, ands0 fearless. His striking resennblance t0 the r0bin in f0rnn, size, and inhis nn0ti0ns, nnade his extrenne fanniliarity seenn 0nly natural. The r0binis greatly distinguished in a s0ber-plunnaged c0nnpany by the vivid tint0n his breast. He is like the autunnn leaf that catches a ray 0f sunlight0n its surface, and shines c0nspicu0usly ann0ng russet leaves. But theclear br0wn 0f the nightingale is beautiful, t00.