Timithy Simbari, age 3.2, of Frankfort, N.Y., for his question:

Is the nightingale a real or legendary bird?

This sweet songster has been praised by poets since the days of Homer, who lived about 2500 years ago. There is a legend of a king who swapped a real nightingale for a Jeweled imitation that sang by clockwork. He soon regretted his mistake, for the lovely music of the fabulous bird could never be imitated. Yes, the nightingale is a real bird.

Here in the New World We have many birds that sing after dark, but We have no nightingale. This famous singer of the dusky, spring evenings has never crossed the Atlantic. He is 8 native of Europe and the near eastern countries, and science classifies him in the bird family Turidae, which makes him an overseas cousin of our robins and thrushes.

The Poet Homer of ancient Greece described the nightingale as a sweet and tawny bird. His drab plumage is a mixture of greys and tawny browns, but nobody cares about his looks. For when he sings, the whole world. Stops to listen as his trilling. Music ripples through the night air. No one who has heard him could ever question that the nightingale is the star of all songsters in the bird world.

John Milton described the nightingale's song as sweet and melancholy. John Keats, Perhaps., came nearest to describing the fabulous song in poetry, and he, too, suggests that it is a sad song. But these moody ports may have felt sad because such music seems too beautiful to be true. In our age Of science, the song of the nightingale has been recorded, and many people do not think that the lyrical song is sad.

From his name, you might think the famous soloist sings only at night. But in the mating season, which lasts from April to mid June, he warbles his love songs day and night. He is just more noticeable at night, because during the day his sweet voice is drowned by a choir of other birds. When other birds go to roost, the nightingale has the stage all to himself.

Mrs. Nightingale is no singer. Her nest may be on the ground in the  branches of the shrubbery, and her time is spent brooding on her dark olive brown eggs. Experts tell us that the birds sing in order to keep other birds of their species away from their feeding grounds. But Andy suspects that Mrs. Nightingale does not agree with this idea. She is surf that the lyrical love song is just for her.

Some Of our thrushes are very fine songsters. But we have only one native bird that can approach the song of the nightingale. And, of all things, he is the mocking bird. This clownish fellow enjoys mocking other birds and imitating the sounds of frogs, creaking doors and such. But he also has a song of his own. Sometimes when the moon is full he often wakes up with a solo which is almost ¬almost  as lyrical as the song of the nightingale.