74 Of Singing-Birds.

someWood-Larks to have a great part of the Nigh-tingal, for that being bred by Coppice-sides, andother places where the Nightingals Haunts may be.Now this Bird is a very tender Bird, and yet hebreeds the soonest of any Bird we have in England,I had a Nest of young Birds ready to fly by the16th of March. This B rd is a very hot mettlesomeCreature, for if they be not taken in January, orthe beginning of February, they grow so extraor-dinary rank, that in a short time they pine away,by reason of the rankness of the Stones, which wefind extraordinary swelled when dead. This Birddelights mightily upon gravelly Grounds and Hillsthat lie to the rising of the Sun, and in Oat Stubbs :This Bird is coupled with his Mate at the begin-ning of February, (and then they part with alltheir last years Brood) and immediately go to Nest :they build most commonly in your Laiers Grounds,where the Grafs hath been pretty rank,and is grownRuflet; they build with some Bennet-Grass, orsome of the dead Grafs of the Field, and make italways under some large Tuffet to shelter them fromthe Wind and Weather, which commonly at thattime of the year is very cold ; they feed their Youngwith a small kind of Worm ; I have taken severalof their Nells, with a resolution to bring them up,(we not understanding the way of taking them byNet in the Country, as they do here about Lmdon)but could never do it, (though I have brought upall sorts of other Birds) for this reason, They eitherhad the Cramp, or else turn’d into a Scouring, inless than a weeks time after I had taken them fromthe Old Ones; several that have been perhaps dili-genter than I, have brought them up to feed, but I

could