on the Nesting of the Sprosser.



319



that D. golzii lias a longer tail, but the difference in length

cannot be great; at all events, in the two living specimens of

the latter species which I have had an opportunity of inspecting,

it did not catch the eye. The Sprosser itself has a decidedly

long tail (I have measured several and make it 2.7501. : Bree says

■“301. to the vent”) so, if D. golzii has a longer one, one would

think it would be a very distinctive feature.


It is probably the latter species which has earned for the

Persian Bulbul, through the medium of the poets, its fame as a

songster. I11 at least two countries the Nightingale is called

■“ Bulbul.” One of these is Egypt, where our member Rady W.

Cecil tells us in her charming little book, “Bird Notes from the

Nile,” that this name is applied by the Arabs to D. luscinia ; the

other is India. A correspondent, who is himself an expert in

the art of keeping Nightingales, wrote me some years since as

follows : “ I have been 32 years in India where Nightingales are

brought from Persia or some northern part and are called ‘ Bulbul

basta’ to distinguish them from the Indian Bulbuls.” Writing

me again as to the meaning of the word ‘ basta,’ he replied :—“ I

have enquired from a Persian gentleman, who says that lie does

not know the word ‘ basta,’ but that there is a word ‘ bastan,’

which means ‘garden’ and that ‘ Bulbul-e-bastan ’ means the

* Garden-Nightingale.’” In some countries then the Nightingale

is called a Bulbul, but in Palestine, according to Evans, a Bulbul

(P. xanthopygus) is called a Nightingale.


Migration.


If anyone wants to gauge the extent of our knowledge (?)

of even the most familiar summer migrants he should tax the

resources of a good library and note what he can ascertain of the

area of their winter quarters, their migration routes and their

life in tropical countries. With regard to the present species

Dixon tells us that the Sprossers bred in Denmark and Scan¬

dinavia pass through Central Europe and winter in N.E. Africa.

We may conjecture that the Russian contingent skirt the shores

of the Black Sea, pass through Asia Minor (where, however, no

Nightingales remain during the winter) and wing their way, with

the Scandinavian Sprossers and the eastern contingent of D.

luscinia , up the valley of the Nile. Lady W. Cecil tells us that



