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ON THE HABITS OF THE BRAKE NIGHTINGALE 

 (PHILOMELA LUSCINIA, SWAINS.) 



" Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbr4 

 Amissos queritur foetus; quos durus arator 

 Observans uido implumes detraxit : at ilia 

 Flet aoctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 

 lutegrat, et moestis late ioca questibus implet." 



Virgil, Geoff. IV. Sn. 



Of the habits and manners of the Brake* Nfofh tin gale, little 

 is as yet known beyond mere conjecture. The reasons for 

 this are manifold ; as besides being- mostly a nocturnal bird, 

 it is one of very retired habits, hiding itself in thick braky 

 woods, which it seldom leaves. Before proceeding to detail its 

 habits, I shall make a few remarks on the situation of the genus 

 Philomela in the systematic arrangement. 



Philomela (Swains.) is the most eminently typical genus of the 

 Philomelinae, the second typical sub-family of the Family Syl- 

 viadae (Vig.), the fourth group — and a typical one — of the 

 Dentirostres (Cuv.), the second tribe of the Order Insessores 

 {Vig.), Brachypteryx (Horsf.), Ficedula (Aldrov), Synallaxis 

 (Vieill.)y Salicaria (Selbg), and GEgithina (Vieill.) also belong to 

 the Philomelinae : Swainson also places the genus Phoenicura 

 (Redstart) in this sub-family ; I, however, think with Selby, that 

 this genus is more properly ranked amongst the Saxicolinae. 



The Nightingale was by the ancients sometimes called Pkilo" 

 mela — its present generic scientific name — and sometimes 

 Luscinia — its present specific scientific name. The former was 

 mostly used in poetry. The latter is derived from lugens, mourn- 

 ful, and cano, to sing; the English name comes from night, and 

 galan, a Saxon word signifying to sing. 



The Brake Nightingale arrives in the middle of April, and 

 commences singing about the twenty-sixth of that month, or, 

 should the season be late and the weather unsettled, as in the 

 present year, it remains silent until the beginning of May. Like 

 most other songsters, it ceases singing after the young are 

 hatched. f The females — as is the case with many other Syl- 

 viadae (Vig.) — arrive eight or ten days later than the males, at 

 which time the latter commence singing. They leave us at the 

 end of August. 



The Nightingale is a very local bird — that is, it is only par- 

 tially distributed over the countries it visits or inhabits; thus in 

 England it has never been heard further north than Doncaster ; 



* The trivial name Brake Nightingale is infinitely superior to the vague and 

 unmeaning name Common Nightingale. 



t The Yellow Bunting {Emhsrixa ciirinella) is an exception to this rule. 



