THE NIGHTINGALE. 187 



met with these birds round Lake Baikal and on the Wolga, in the 

 5'6\ degree of latitude. Westward they have also been seen in tha 

 interior of the United States, along the shores of the Missouri. 



'ihey arrive in the Northern and Middle States late in the fall or 

 eorainenceraent of winter; in New England they are seen early in 

 October, and disappear generally on the approach of the deep storms 

 :)f snow, though straggling parties are still found nearly throughout 

 the winter. In the other States to the South they are more comtnoa 

 at this season, and are particularly numerous in South Carolina and 

 (xoorgia, frequenting open plains, old fields, common grounds, and the 

 dry shores and banks of bays and rivers, keeping constantly on the 

 ground, and roving about in families under the guidance of the older 

 birds, who watching for any approaching danger, give the alarm to 

 the young in a plaintive call, very similar to that which is uttered 

 by the Sky -lark in the same circumstances. Inseparable in all their 

 movements, like the hen and her fostered chickens, they roost 

 together in a close ring or company, by the mere edge of some 

 sheltering weed or tuft of grass on the dry and gravelly ground; 

 and, thickly and warmly clad, they abide the frost and the storm 

 with hardy indifference. They fly rather high and loose, in scattered 

 companies, and follow no regular time of migration, but move on- 

 ward only as their present resources begin to fail. They are usually 

 fat, esteemed as food, and are frequently seen exposed for sale in our 

 markets. Their diet, as usual, consists of seeds which still remain 

 on the grass and weeds they frequent, and they swallow a considerable 

 portion of gravel to assist their digestion. They also collect the eggs 

 and dormant larvuj of insects when they fall in their way. 



OF TEE WARBLERS IN GENERAL. 



The Warblers have a weak and slender bill; small and somewhat 

 depressed nostrils; and the tongue cloven at the end. The exterior 

 toe is joined beneath to the base of the middle one. 



Most of these birds prey on insects. Some of them are gregarious, 

 and migrate at the approach of the cold weather, to warmer climates. 

 This is a very extensive tribe, containing in the whole above a hun 

 dred and seventy species, of which England boasts nearly twenty. 



THE NIGHTINGALE. 



The Nightingale, though greatly and deservedly esteemed for the 

 xeellence of its song, is not remarkable for variety or richness of 

 colors. It usually leaves us about the middle of September, in order, 

 as it is supposed to retire to the distant regions of Asia. This bird 

 returns regularly in the first days of April. Mr. Barrington kept a 

 fine nightingale for three years, during which time he })aid ])artic- 

 nlar attention to its song. Its tone was infinitely more mellow 

 than that of any other bird; though at the same time, by a proi)er 



