ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OP THE NIGHTINGALE. 43 



Or but very partially, if at all, towards the eastward, visited by the 

 Nightingale. I can at least state confidently, from incjuiries on 

 the spot, that this bird is quite unknown in the Channel islands, 

 Jersey, Guernsey, &c. ; which are, besides, of a geological structure 

 adverse to its taking up in them its abode. 



Range of the Nightingale over Europe. — Nightingales have been 

 observed, by Sonnini and others, to winter, in considerable num- 

 bers, in the thickets of the Egyptian delta ; and we consequently 

 find them, in summer, distributed over most suitable districts of the 

 east of Europe, and part of Asia. Those that visit Germany pro- 

 bably ascend by Sicily and the Italian peninsula, and not a few, 

 perhaps, along Sardinia and Corsica ; some of which latter, arriving 

 on the western shore of the gulf of Genoa, may be those which 

 visit above Nantua, in France, to the south of which town they are 

 said not to be found. Many species of migratory birds, also, dis- 

 perse themselves over Spain (that is to say, over the central and 

 western provinces of that })2ninsula), apparently surmounting, or 

 perhaps arriving to the westward of, those obstacles which had. 

 caused others to deviate a little to the eastward ; and it is highly 

 probable that no inconsiderable number which attempt annually to 

 wing their way over the turbulent Bay of Biscay, perish in the At- 

 lantic ; the weary, exhausted state of the different Swallows, which 

 were noticed, by Mr. Couch, to arrive on our Cornish coast, indi- 

 cating how fatiguing and severe a journey this had proved, even to 

 them ; for there can be no doubt that these had accomplished it, as 

 also the Alpine Swifts which have been observed in Ireland. This 

 opinion is, indeed, considerably strengthened by the fact, of two or 

 three species of short-winged migratory birds being almost peculiar 

 to Spain and Portugal. 



Small birds require a favorable gale of wind, to enable them to 

 traverse n wide extent of sea. — In this little essay, in order to ex- 

 plain satisfactorily whatever I may have occasion to advance, it will 

 he as well, perhaps, to adduce, as I proceed, some authorities by 

 way of corroboration. To those persons who may not have at- 

 tended much to the facts concerning the migratory journeys of birds, 

 a variety of api)arent contradictions arise continually ; and I may 

 be reasonably asked that, while Fieldfares, and Redwings, and even 

 tiny Groldcrests, are known to arrive, by thousands, upon our shores, 

 having evidently winged their way across from the Scandinavian 

 peninsula, how is it that even the rapid and powerfully-winged 

 Swallow tribes, are but just able to reach England from the north- 

 ern coast of Spain ? while again, on the other hand, we find in- 



