320 



SYLVIID.E. 



heliexes Da ulias to be the name which anyone strictly follow- 

 ing the rules for Zoological Nomenclature, adopted by the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, must use, 

 and accordingly has no hesitation in employing it in this work, 

 though aware that the proceeding is novel. 



In the east of Europe a second species of Nightingale 

 occurs, which, though long known to German bird-fanciers as 

 the Sprnsser, was first specifically distinguished byBechstein 

 as Sylvia jihilomela and by other authors is called Philomela 

 turdoides or P. major, while it has received the English 

 name Thrush-Nightingale.* This bird, whose regular ap- 

 pellation it seems should be Daidias philomela, extends its 

 summer range further to the northward than our D. luscinia, 

 and reaches the southern parts of Sweden : westward it appears 

 not to cross the Rhine valley, and further south it is limited 

 by much the same longitude, though Dr. Cara says it occurs 

 in Sardinia. Eastward it would seem to occur in India, 

 Mr. Jerdon (Ibis, 1869 p. 356) having recognized a specimen 

 in the Lucknow Museum. 



The vignette represents the nest of our Nightingale. 



* Failing to detect the blunder of an anonymous writei' (Zool. p. 1876) wlio 

 applied this name to a very different bird, Mr. Morris has introduced the "Thrush- 

 Nightingale" to his readers as a British species, when the recorded occurrences 

 on which he chiefly relies notoriously refer not to Philomela turdoideg, Blyth, 

 but to Si/Iria turdoides, B. Meyer, of which, though under a far older name, an 

 account will by-and-bye be given here. There is no sufficient reason for supposing 

 that the larger Nightingale of eastern Europe has ever visited this country. 



