Chap. 43.] THE NIGHTINGALE. 509 



only weary the reader. Theophrastus, for example, relates 

 that even pigeons, as well as peacocks and ravens, have been 

 introduced from other parts into Asia, 24 as also croaking frogs 25 

 into Cyrenaica. 



CHAP. 42. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF BIRDS WHICH AFFORD OMENS 



BY THEIR NOTE BIRDS WHICH CHANGE THEIR COLOUR AND 



THEIR VOICE. 



There is another remarkable fact too, relative to the birds 

 which give omens by their note ; they generally change their 

 colour and voice at a certain season of the year, and suddenly 

 become quite altered in appearance ; a thing that, among the 

 larger birds, happens with the crane only, which grows black 

 in its old age. Erom black, the blackbird changes to a red- 

 dish colour, sings in summer, chatters in winter, and about 

 the summer solstice loses its voice ; when a year old, the beak 

 also assumes the appearance of ivory ; this, however, is the case 

 only with the male. In the summer, the thrush is mottled 

 about the neck, but in the winter it becomes of one uniform 

 colour all over. 



CHAP. 43. THE NIGHTINGALE. 



The song of the nightingale is to be heard, without inter- 

 mission, for fifteen days and nights, continuously," 26 when the 

 foliage is thickening, as it bursts from the bud ; a bird which 

 deserves our admiration in no slight degree. First of all, 

 what a powerful voice in so small a body ! its note, how long, 

 and how well sustained ! And then, too, it is the only bird 

 the notes of which are modulated in accordance with the strict 

 rules of musical science. 27 At one moment, as it sustains its 



24 Asia Minor, most probably. The assertion, though supported by 

 Theophrastus, is open to doubt. 25 See B. viii. c. 83. 



26 It was the nightingale that was said to be "Vox et praeterea nihil;" 

 " A voice, and nothing else.'* 



27 As there may be different opinions on the meaning of the various 

 parts of this passage, it is as well to transcribe it for the benefit of the 

 reader, the more especially as, contrary to his usual practice, Pliny is 

 here in a particularly discursive mood. " Nunc continue spiritu trahitur in 

 longum, nunc variatur inflexo, nunc distinguitur conciso, copulatur intorto, 

 promittitur revocato, infiiscatur ex inopinato, interdum et secum ipse 

 nmrmurat, plenus, gravis, acutus, creber, extentus ; ubi visum est, vibrans, 

 summus, medius, iinus." 



