122 HISTORY OF THE NIGHTINGALE. Ocl. ^, 



I fhall begin with defcribing his perfon. His fize is 

 that of the linnet, in fliape he refembles the robin red- 

 -breaft. His head is fmall, his eyes large, with a pale 

 iris. His beak duflcy coloured, llender, and pretty 

 long. His head, neck, and back, of a grtyifli brown. 

 The upper part of his wings have a tinge of red, of 

 which there is more about the tail. His throat, breaft, 

 and belly are of a pale whitifh grey. His tail is white 

 underneath, and the thighs are alfo covered with white 

 feathers; but the knees are furrounded, as it were, 

 with rings of grey. With refpect to his country, the 

 bountiful Father of the univerfe, who is attentive to 

 the amufement and comfort, as well as the fuftenance 

 of his children, has given the Nightingale a patience of 

 diverfity in climate, that he may attend the only crea- 

 ture capable, by a fenfible foul, of difcriminating the 

 fuperior beauty of his fong. 



Credo Deuni immortalem fparCffc animos in corpore humana 

 X!t eflent qui terras tiiercntur, quique cqeleftium ordiuem contem- 

 plantes imitareutur £um vitx modo atquc conllantia. 



This alfo extends to every thing that lives, and 

 moves, and has a being, in proportion to fenfibility, re- 

 gulated in every circumftance by perfect adaptation ! 

 • In moll of the temperate regions of the earth, where 

 there is abundance of food and fhelter, and a connec- 

 tion, uninterrupted, with highly cultivated and inclofed 

 lands, the Nightingale is to be found. I believe he has 

 not been heard in Britain north of the Trent, or the 

 Were at the utmoft. In Scotland, Ireland, and Wales he 

 is unknown. Scotland and Wales might, in the courfe 

 of ages, obtain him as ai gueft, by colonization natural- 

 ly produced from conjoined cultivation ; but as I think 

 it will in time fulBciently appear that the Nightingale is 

 ■not a bird cf pajfuge, Ireland muft transfer him from 

 Britain or from the continent. 



The Czar Pe-ter the Great is faid to have introduced, 

 at a confider.ible e.xpence,variousfinging birds to his gar- 



