HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



57 



He then goes on to describe tlie darts and the 

 dives which the supposed Irish nightingale takes. 

 This is all very good. But both the Boyne fisher- 

 man and Mr. L. have committed a great ornitholo- 

 gical mistake if tliey imagine that the Irish nightin- 

 gale has a black head. I am not a little surprised 

 that L. should have failed to discover the name of 

 a bird he has seen so frequently both " by night and 

 day.'^ I shall now proceed to state the points upon 

 which I differ from "L.," and it is to be hoped I may 

 convince him of his mistakes. In almost every 

 case I shall add the Latin names, as English and 

 local ones are constantly varying, and create a 

 large amount of confusion. 



warblers, the nigiitingale excepted." i "L." 

 makes him say that he is " superior to any song- 

 bird we have," &c. The bird which "L." describes 

 in the beginning of his letter is the Emheriza 

 schoeniclus, or Reed Sparrow. He may have seen 

 him by night, but rarely, I should say; and I doubt 

 if he ever heard liim sing during the dark portion 

 of the twenty-four hours. 



" L." would oblige me by stating what bird the 

 Passer artindinaceus minor is. If it is the same as 

 Eiiiberiza schmiiclus (although my scanty ornitho- 

 logical library fails to give me such a synonym), 

 this bird, as I said before, does not sing during the 

 night. " L." states that, "so far as he can ascertain," 



Fig. 3". Sedge Warbler {St/lviu sulicuriu). 



The mistake which " L." stands charged with is 

 this. He lias confused the Reed Sparrow {Emberiza 

 schceniclus, Linn.) with the Sedge Warbler {Sylvia 

 salicaria. Lath.). He has also fallen into two other 

 errors. 1st. , He has used the terms " Hedge 

 Warbler " and " Reed Sparrow," as if they were 

 synonymous. Now, although I have heard a good 

 many English synonyms for Emheriza schceniclus, I 

 never yet heard it called the "Hedge Warbler." 

 2nd. He has wrongly quoted the venerable Gilbert 

 White, so far, at least, as I can find out. This 

 prince of naturalists is made to say in my edition 

 that the Blackcap {Motacilla utricapilld) is in its 

 song " superior, perhaps, to those of any of our 



the " Reed Sparrow, or Hedge Warbler," is never 

 given a black crest by any author except Bewick, 

 who calls it the "Black-headed Bunting." Pray 

 what author ever assigned the Reed Sparrow, alias 

 the Black-headed Bunting, alias Emheriza schoe- 

 niclus, Linn., any other colour except black to the 

 feathers which surmount his cranium? and who 

 ever gave a sooty crest to our well-known Hedge 

 Warbler {Accentor modularis. Guv.) ? 



"L." has evidently taken the Reed Sparrow to be 

 the Irish nightingale. This bird is the Irish night- 

 ingale's most intimate companion ; both have reedy 

 homes by river banks. But the true Irish nightin- 

 gale is the Sedge Warbler {Sylvia salicaria), which 



