FIELD NOTES ON ESSEX ORNITHOLOGY. 91
naturally, not quite so familiar as it used to be. Not until late
in the evening did the idea of Firecrest occur to me; and, as it
happened, we had not been able to get a good view of the head
plumage. It is quite possible that a closer examination of this
bird would have proved it to be a Firecrest, and not the first of
the returning Goldcrests. The record is thus a doubtful one,
and at the moment of writing I have not met with an undoubted
Goldcrest, either in Essex or elsewhere.4
The Wood Warbler was abundant in Epping Forest in 1918,
and so indeed were the other warblers (especially the Lesser
Whitethroat) in the western corner of the county; but the
Nightingale, round Theydon, seems decreasing, although there
was a distinct rise in numbers in 1918.
About midnight on the 29th May 1919 a Nightingale
was singing in the hawthorn hedge at the extreme eastern end
of the Forest at Theydon Bois. There was no moon, and the
night was dark and still. What would happen, I thought as I
stood near the bush, if I struck a match? At anyrate I would
try the experiment. The sudden light illuminated every leaf
and tuft of blossom near my face, but there was no halt in the
song ; and by moving my hand and head I could see the bird,
very ghostly in his khaki plumage, shivering in the ecstacy of
his song.
One after another a dozen matches or so were ignited and
burned away, and through all this time there was no break in
the song. The bird, I estimated, was about thirty inches
from my eyes, and (so far as I could tell) was utterly oblivious
to the light. Its back was turned towards me, the head turning
slightly from side to side, so that I could see first one eye and
then the other. With the hope of touching the bird, I tried to
penetrate into the bush, but at the first rustle the Nightingale
stopped singing, and did not start until I had remained per-
fectly still for a couple of minutes. I struck a final match, had
another look at this strange minstrel, and then walked home.
Will all Nightingales act in the same way when illuminated?
What would be the effect of a bright electric pocket-lamp?
It should be possible, by means even of a match, to focus a
camera on a singing Nightingale, and then take a flashlight
photograph at close quarters.
4 On October 19th 1919 we saw a small flock in a fir plantation on the Lancashire coast.