302 THE NIGHTINGALE. 



' rufus-ash above, white-ash beneath ; tail, rufus-brown ; inhabits Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa ; is 63 inches long ; is of all birds the most famous for its 

 song ; visits England in April, and leaves in autumn ; frequents thick 

 hedges ; sings the greater part of night, and while the hen is hatching. It 

 breeds three or four times a year, and lays four or five greenish-brown eggs ; 

 feeds on the larvae of insects. Bill, brown ; head and back pale mouse 

 colour, with olive spots ; tail, red mouse colour ; legs and quills brownish, 

 the latter chesnut on the outer edge.' It sang on a sycamore tree, then 

 down to a shrubby willow— not in the least put about by the dozen people 

 talking in admiration of its piping notes. The little bird was about the size, 

 form, and colour of the linnet. In the hush of evening, and long after 

 midnight, it gave us a practical illustration of Coleridge's beautiful stanza — 



' 'Tis the merry nightingale 

 That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates 

 With fast, thick warble his delicious notes, 

 Ashe were fearful that an April night 

 Would be too short for him to utter forth 

 His love-chaunt and disburthen his full soul 

 Of all its music' 



Its notes are not so strong as they are clear and shrill, reaching in the 

 quiet midnight fully 200 yards, to where we were sitting at the open 

 window hearing it. The extraordinary fine season — much the best in my 

 remembrance — has no doubt something to do with its migration northwards ; 

 it is a rare event indeed to hear it. There is another nightingale more 

 common in the south, but it has not the power of variety of song — although 

 a larger bird with a stronger note— by name Philomela Turdoides." — 

 Jas. Anderson. 



In 1889, May and June were exceptionally warm, and, as 

 previously remarked, some birds once only found in the south 

 of England are now found north in Scotland — possibly through 

 better cultivation and drainage (as the people are becoming more 

 and more one) — witness the nightingales at Paisley and 

 Uddingston. It delights to catch the notes of other birds, such 

 as the sparrow, yellow-hammer, lark, blackbird, mavis, and 

 linnet, and seems to revel in mocking them — for this it has been 

 likened to the mocking-bird of America. Its characteristic is a 

 sort of birl — like a whistle with a pea in it — as superior to 

 theirs as Shakespeare says Coriolanus was to the franchised 

 rabble — 



" He is their god ; he leads them like a thing 

 Made by some other Deity than Nature, 

 That shapes man better ; and they follow him 

 Against us brats, with no less confidence 

 Than boys pursuing summer butterflies, 

 Or butchers killing flies." 



In his "Idylls of the King," Tennyson compares its voice 

 to Enid's — 



" For, when he waited in the castle court, 

 The voice of Enid, Yniole's daughter, rang 

 Clear through the casement of the hall ; 

 So the sweet voice of Enid moved Geraint, 



