_Nightingale and Thorn_ (Vol. iv., pp. 175. 242.; Vol. v., pp. 39.
305.).--Is it known to your correspondents who take an interest in this
subject, that the nightingale, when she builds her nest, _inserts a
thorn about an inch long in the centre of it_, probably to lean her
breast against.
During my angling excursions I often get comfortably housed at a little
farmer's in Berks, and in conversation with him, about two years ago,
relative to the habits of the nightingale, he mentioned this
peculiarity, adding that he carried a nest home with a thorn an inch
long built strongly through the middle of it. I recollected at the time
the subject had been treated by some of our poets, but was not aware
that it had any practical applicability.
In Berkshire they say of the nightingale's plaintive ditty:
"I've a thorn in my breast,
And can get no rest."