90 NIGHTINGALE. 



NIGHTINGALE. 



PLATE CXVIII. 



Sylvia luscinia, PENNANT. TEMMINCK. 



Moiacilla luscinia, MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



Curruca luscinia, FLEMING. 



Philomela luscinia, SELBY. LJOULD. 



nest of the Nightingale, which is almost always 

 -*- placed on the ground, in some natural hollow, 

 amongst the roots of a tree, on a bank, or at the 

 foot of a hedgerow, though sometimes two or three 

 feet from the surface, is very loosely put together, and 

 is formed of various materials, such as dried stalks of 

 grasses, and leaves, small fibrous roots, and bits of 

 bark, lined with a few hairs and the finer portions of 

 the grass. It is about five inches and a half in 

 external diameter, by about three internally, and about 

 three and a half deep. 



The eggs, of a regular oval form, are of a uniform 

 glossy dull olive-brown colour. They are sometimes 

 tinged with greyish blue, especially at the smaller end ; 

 some are greenish, others brownish green; some are 

 paler, mottled with olive brown ; and some are longer 

 in shape than others. They are four or five to six in 

 number. They are laid in May, and are rather large 

 for the size of the bird. The male and female both 

 sit on them, but the latter the most. The young, 



