THE NIGHTINGALE AND GUNFIRE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Referring to the letter in your issue of June 1st re nightin- gales, my experience is that they take no notice of noises, no matter how loud, that their instinct tells them are not "danger " sounds. I am billeted in an old farm, once a monastery, within less than a quarter of a mile of three large quarries, where blasting on a large scale takes place several times a day, one operation taking place at 10 p.m., just after my birds have started singing.
Piney start at the same time within a few minutes each night, and though there is a noise going on for half-an-hour like an animated sir raid, with strong echoes in the wood they are in, they take no notice whatever, though I sometimes jump at some of the bangs. Another bird, also, sings close to the Nord main line and takes no notice of the trains rattling by him, which I sometimes take advantage of to get to within a few yards of Mm; but the slightest twig-snap after the train has passed and he stops at once, and probably moves his perch. Nightingales are extraordinarily sensi- tive of hearing, like all forest or thicket dwellers. I sometimes think they have a sense of scent, and their vision in the dark or dusk is very acute. Mine are just stopping singing, I am sorry
B.E.F.
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