r792. on the nighting slein Rufsta. 307 
is even disagreeable at meals in the houses of the na- 
tives, where several are commonly kept in the hall, 
and all open their throats at Once, so soon as the 
noise of knives, &¥c, sets them a-going ; insomuch 
that a man must Hegraly. bawl to be heard by his 
next neighbour. 
“Since, then, Mr Editor,.it is not high latitude 
which frightens Philomel from a country, how do 
~ you account for her never venturing to the north of 
the Tweed, after all the strong afsurances you give 
us of the cultivation and planting in Scotland, the 
delight of that plaintive songstrefs, according to Al. 
banicus, and other well informed naturalists ? 
That is acurious inquiry for the philosophy of na- 
tural history, and yet your late Edinburgh work is 
perfectly silent on the subject. 
However, not to indulge the satiric Samuel John- 
son as much in his grave as he was inhis life, who 
would probably laugh more than he has talked, in 
his tomb, at such a collateral proof of his thort-sight- 
ed remarks on Caledonia, I will explain the enigma, 
by pointing out a few causes which invite Philomel 
to make us an annual visit, whilst fhe neglects a. 
country which has given birth to a Buchannan and a 
Thomson, The truth of the matter is, then, with 
regard to the nightingale, that fhe is not so much at- 
tracted by the high state of our cultivation, effected 
with a two inch plough, drawn by a little Finith 
horse; nor with the beauty of our bastard forests of 
aspine, birch, and fir, fit for little but fire wood, as 
with the three following circumstances, which offer 
irresistible temptation to soft billed birds. 
