1 62 Midland Village: Railway and Woodland. 



eye on a sunny day. The uniform brown of the 

 head, the wings, and the upper part of the back, 

 is much like the brown of the Robin, a bird which 

 in some other respects strangely resembles the 

 Nightingale; but either it is a little brighter, or 

 the larger surface gives it a richer tone. In both 

 birds the brown is set off against a beautiful red ; 

 but this in the Nightingale is only distinct when 

 it flies or jerks the tail, the upper feathers of 

 which, as well as the longer quills, and especially 

 the innermost ones, are of that deep but bright 

 russet that one associates with an autumn morning. 

 And throat and breast are white ; not pure white, 

 but of the gentle tone of a cloud where the gray 

 begins to meet the sunshine. 



In habit the Nightingale is peculiarly alert and 

 quick, not restless in a petty way, like the fidgety 

 Titmice or the lesser warblers, but putting a 

 certain seriousness and intensity into all it does. 

 Its activity is neither grotesque nor playful, but 

 seems to arise from a kind of nervous zeal, which 

 is also characteristic of its song. If it perches for 

 an instant on the gorse-bush beneath the hedge- 

 row which borders the wood, it jerks its tail up, 



