Tlie Nightingale. 229 



Its song is composed of several musical passages, each of 

 which does not continue more than the third part of a 

 minute ; but they are so varied, the passing from one tone 

 to another is so fanciful and so rapid, and the melody 

 so sweet and so mellow, that the most consummate 

 musician is pleasingly led to a deep sense of admiration 

 on hearing it. Sometimes, joyful and merry, it runs 

 down the diapason with the velocity of lightning, touch- 

 ing the treble and the base nearly at the same instant ; 

 at other times, mournful and plaintive, the unfortunate 

 Philomela draws heavily her lengthened notes, and 

 breathes a delightful melancholy around. These have 

 the appearance of sorrowful sighs ; the other modula- 

 tions resemble the laughter of the happy. Solitary on 

 the twig of a small tree, and cautiously at a certain 

 distance from the nest, where the pledges of his love are 

 treasured under the fostering breast of his mate, the 

 male fills constantly the silent woods with his harmo- 

 nious strains, and during the whole night entertains 

 and repays his female for the irksome duties of incu- 

 bation. The Nightingale not only sings at intervals 

 during the day, but waits till the blackbird and the 

 thrush have uttered their evening call, even till the 

 stock and ringdoves have, by their soft murmurings, 

 lulled each other to rest, and then pours forth his full 

 tide of melody : 



Listening Philomela deigns 



To let them joy, and purposes, in thought 

 Elate, to make her night excel their day." 



THOMSON. 



It is a great subject of astonishment that so small a 

 bird should be endowed with such potent lungs. If the 

 evening is calm, it is supposed that its song may be 

 heard above half-a-mile. This bird, the ornament and 

 charm of our spring and early summer evenings, as it 

 arrives in April, and continues singing till June, dis- 

 appears on a sudden about September or October, when 

 it leaves us to pass the winter in the North of Africa and 

 Syria. Its visits to this country are limited to certain 

 counties, mostly in the south and east ; as, though it is 



