25 !> BIRDS. 



79, 1, 2. Brown above; throat black; breasts, rump, and lateral 

 quills of the tail, light red; it builds in old walls, and has a soft song, 

 with something of the modulations of the Nightingale. 



Mot. erithacus, tytys, (jibraltariensis, atrata, Gm. ; Edw. 29 : 

 Naum. 79, 3, 4. Differs from the preceding, and principally in the 

 breast, which, as well as the throat, is black. It is much more un- 

 common*. 



CuRRUcA, Bechst. 



A straight bill, slender throughout, slightly compressed before; the 

 upper mandible a little curved near the point. The most celebrated of 

 this subgenus is, 



Mot. luscinia, L. ; Enl. 615, 2; Naum. 74, 2. (The Nightin- 

 gale). A reddish brown above; whitish grey beneath; the tail 

 somewhat redder. Every one knows this songster of the night, 

 and the varied melody with which it fills the woods. It builds on 

 trees, and does not begin to sing until the young ones are hatched. 

 The male, then, as well as the female, is occupied in providing them 

 with food. 



The eastern part of Europe produces a Nightingale, which is a 

 little larger, and whose breast is slightly variegated with greyish 

 tints. Mot. philomela, Bechst.; Naum. 74, 1. 

 The remaining species have the common name of Fauvettes; they are, 

 nearly all, good singers, lively and gay in their habits; they are con- 

 stantly flitting about in pursuit of insects, and build nests in bushes, mostly 

 in the vicinity of water, among reeds, &c. 



I place a species at the head of the list, which is so large that it 

 has been almost always classed with the Thrushesf . It is. 



Tardus arundinaceus, L. ; Sylvia turdoides, Enl. 515; Naum. 

 81,1. (River Nightingale). Reddish-brown above ; yellowish be- 

 neath ; throat white ; a pale streak over the eye ; a little less than 

 the Mavis, (Turd, iliactis, L.) and the bill almost as much arcuated. 

 It builds among the reeds, and feeds almost exclusively on aquatic 

 insects. 



Mot. arundinacea, Gm. ; La Petite Rouserolle, Naum. 81, 2. 

 Similar to the preceding in habits and colour, but not so large by a 

 third. 



Mot. salicaria, Gm. ; La fauvette de Roseaux, Enl. 581, 2. Still 

 smaller than the last, and the bill proportionably shorter ; an olive- 



* Add the blue bird of Amer. Mot. stalls, Enl. 590; Mot. Calliope, Lath. Syn. 

 Supp. I, front., and a great number of other species described by Wilson. — 



f There are, in foreign countries, some intermediate Fauvettes between the Mot. 

 arundinacea, Gm., and the Turd, arundinaceus, L., and between the former and the 

 Mot. salicaria, Gm., so that, in my opinion, it is impossible to separate the latter 

 from the Fauvettes, although I acknowledge the result is an almost insensible tran- 

 sition between the Thrushes and the Motacillse, just as there is between the latter 

 and the straight- billed Shrikes, and between the Thrushes and the Shrikes with ar- 

 cuated bills. All these genera are closely allied. 



