148 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



are nightingales common in that country. Oates, 

 it is true, includes Daulias golzii among the birds of 

 India, but, in my opinion, on insufficient evidence. 

 He admits that it is of extreme rarity in the country, 

 " only two instances of its occurrence being known." 

 Hume, in October, 1865, had a Persian nightingale 

 sent to him, which was said to have been procured 

 in the Oudh terai. It is probable that neither this 

 specimen nor the other whose presence is recorded 

 in India was a wild bird at all ; as likely as not they 

 were caged birds that had escaped from captivity ! 

 The nightingale is certainly a very retiring bird, 

 and since, if it occurs in India, it can be only as a 

 winter visitor when it is not in song, it is possible 

 that it might be overlooked. But in face of the fact 

 that many good ornithologists have spent long periods 

 in Oudh without ever having seen a nightingale, 

 and the bird has never been observed anywhere else 

 in India, it seems most improbable that nightingales 

 ever stray into India. What, then, are we to think 

 of the statement of Dr. Hartert, a German ornitholo- 

 gist, who says of the Eastern nightingale that *' it 

 winters in Southern Arabia, parts of India (e.g. 

 Oudh) and East Africa " ? 



Here we have an excellent illustration of the 

 adage " A little learning is a dangerous thing," a good 

 example of how erroneous statements creep into 

 scientific books. Dr. Hartert has heard that night- 

 ingales have been recorded in Oudh, so jumps to 

 the conclusion that the species winters there, even 

 as it does in Egypt. This statement will doubtless 



