NIGHT 



5742 



NIGHTINGALE 



new area detached from Kamerun 

 (Cameroons). The Lagos coast was 

 once known as the Slave Coast, 

 but in 1917 slavery was abolished 

 as a legal status ; slave dealing 

 has ceased, and the slave markets 

 were suppressed by the native 

 rulers. The trade lasted longest in 

 the N., on the edge of the Sahara, 

 where the Mahomedan Hausas and 

 Fulas long retained the system of 

 domestic slavery. The S. is tropi- 

 cal forest as far inland as Ibadan ; 

 the rest is savannah. The rainfall 

 is heavy during July, etc., when 

 the temperature is below 80 F. 



Nigeria is more densely peopled 

 than any part of Africa, except 

 the Nile trench. The S. yields 

 palm oil and kernels, rubber, 

 ground-nuts, hides, coffee, cocoa, 

 .kola nuts, etc. ; the N. is the 

 tin-mining area. Coal is mined 

 at Udi, connected by rly. with 

 Bonny. Manganese ore and mona- 



Nightingale. Male specimen of the 

 European song-bird 



zite have also been found. Trade 

 passes seawards by many ports, of 

 which the chief are Lagos, Port 

 Harcourt, Bonny, and Calabar ; 

 it concentrates from the French 

 territory to the N., W., and E. on 

 Kano, long a famous caravan 

 centre, and now the railhead for 

 Lagos ; this traffic is assisted by 

 the motor road from Katsena to 

 Kano. Nigeria's area is 400,000 

 sq.m. Pop. 18,000,000. -See Africa; 

 Abeokuta; Negro. 



Bibliography. Nigeria, our latest 

 Protectorate, C. H. Robinson, 1900 ; 

 The Geology and Geography of N. 

 Nigeria, J. D. Falconer, 1911 ; 

 Through Unknown Nigeria, J. R. 

 Raphael, 1914 ; Cotton in British 

 West Africa, N. M. Penzer, 1920 ; 

 West African Forests and Forestry, 

 A. H. Unwin, 1920 ; Peace Hand- 

 books, No. 94, Nigeria, pub. H.M. 

 Stationery Office, 1920. 



Night. Interval between sunset 

 and sunrise. Its length varies 

 according to the seasons and the 

 latitude. At the equinoxes it is 

 twelve hours in length on every 

 part of the earth, lengthening after- 

 wards in one hemisphere and 

 shortening in the other until the 

 solstices. At the poles the period 

 of night lasts six months. 



Nightcap. Covering for the 

 head at night. Men wore velvet 

 nightcaps in the reigns of the 



Tudors, and at that date and later 

 they were often elaborately em- 

 broidered. Women also wore 

 them, but their use was discon- 

 tinued in the 19th century. See 

 Cap ; Head-dress. 



Night Heron (Nycticorax 

 griseus). Species of small heron, 

 common on the continent of 



Night Heron. Specimen of the 

 European species 



W.S. Bcrrldge.F.Z.S. 



Europe and widely distributed in 

 the Eastern hemisphere. About 

 two ft. long, with greenish plumage 

 on the back, purple breast, and 

 long white plumes- at the back of 

 the head, it commonly nests in low 

 trees, is usually found in swampy 

 woods, and is most active at 

 night. It is doubtful if it ever 

 bred in Great Britain, which it 

 visits in the spring and autumn. 

 The name is given in America to 

 another species, N. naevius. See 

 Boatbill ; Heron. 



Nightingale ( Lusr.inia megaryn- 

 cha) Bird of the thrush family, 

 famous for its sustained and varied 

 song, indulged in far into the night 

 as well as by day. A native of 

 Europe from England to its eastern 

 borders and into Asia Minor, and 

 from Copenhagen to N.W. Africa, 

 its length slightly exceeds 6 ins. Its 

 upper parts are russet brown and 

 the underside is brownish white. 

 Arriving in Britain in mid-April, it 

 ranges only as far N. as S. York- 

 shire, and W. as far as the valley of 

 the Exe. It visits parts of Wales, 

 but not Ireland. 



The bird's nest, composed of 

 dead leaves and grass, is placed on 

 or near the ground in the tangled 

 vegetation of copse or hedgerow, 

 and contains from four to six olive- 

 tinted, polished eggs. While the 

 hen is sitting, the cock frequently 

 sits on a branch above and pours 

 out his rich song, undeterred by the 

 presence of an appreciative human 

 listener only a few feet away. It 

 feeds chiefly on the ground, con- 

 suming worms and various insects, 

 and later the wild berries. The 

 song is not heard much after mid- 



June ; but the soft wheel call-note 

 and the alarm kur, kur denote its 

 presence until it takes its departure 

 in Aug. or Sept. 



The Eastern or Thrush-Nightin- 

 gale ( L. philomela), of Europe, east 

 of the Rhine, is somewhat larger, 

 with the breast spotted faintly ; 

 and the Persian Nightingale (L. 

 Hafizi) occurs farther E. from the 

 Caucasus through Persia to Turki- 

 stan and occasionally to India. The 

 nightingale figures in the rnytho- 

 logic story of Tereus and Philomela, 

 the latter being transformed into 

 the bird, whose plaintive song is 

 supposed to be a recital of her 

 wrongs. The name is the A.S. 

 nihlegale, singer of the night. See 

 Eggs, colour plate. 



Nightingale, FLORENCE (1820- 

 1910). British philanthropist. The 

 daughter of W. E. Nightingale, she 

 was born in Florence, May 12, 1820, 

 but her early life was passed in her 

 home at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire. 

 When quite young she began to take 

 an interest in hospital work, and 

 after visiting hospitals in England 

 and abroad, went through a course 

 of training for nursing at Kaisers- 



After Sir W. 11. Richmvit.il 



werth and in Paris, and then 

 worked at a sanatorium in London. 

 In letters to The Times, Sir W. 

 Howard Russell described the 

 terrible condition of the sick and 

 wounded in the Crimea, whereupon 

 Florence Nightingale offered her 

 services to the war office. In Oct.. 

 1854, she sailed for the Crimea, 

 and with 37 nurses reached Scutari, 

 the base for the sick and wounded, 

 on Nov. 4. Taking full control, she 

 gradually reformed the sanitary 

 arrangements, and enormously 

 reduced the death-rate from cho- 

 lera, typhus, and dysentery. She 



