442 FAMILY SYLVIAD^E, OR WARBLERS; NIGHTINGALE. 



but preferring the former. Most of them, indeed, will not touch 

 vegetable matter, unless driven to it by necessity ; and, when 

 compelled to resort to it, they select the softer kinds of vegetable 

 matter, rather than the hard seeds, which are preferred by most 

 of the Fringillidse. The two families may be generally at once 

 distinguished by the form of the beak, the length and comparative 

 slenderness of which, together with the slight curvature at its 

 point (Fig. 242), are in striking contrast with the short, stout, 



and straight conical bills 

 of the typical Fringillidae 

 (Fig. 223). But the 

 Larks and allied species 

 have bills so intermediate 

 in form between these 

 two, that they might be 

 placed in one or the other 

 family almost in differently 

 ( 388). The various 



FIG. 242.-HEAD OF ACCENTOR MODULAR, groups of SylviadsB are 



OR HKDGK WARBLER. spread over all quarters of 



the globe ; and are destined to restrain the multiplication of the 

 numerous tribes of insects, which would otherwise increase to 

 such an extent as to be destructive to all vegetation. As different 

 localities are assigned to different tribes of Insects, so is a diversity 

 of haunts assigned to the various groups of these Birds. Some 

 confine themselves to the higher branches of trees, some frequent 

 dense humid thickets, some hedgerows, some tall reed-beds, some 

 grassy lawns, pasture lands, and wide commons : in each place 

 finding the insects most suitable to their appetites. A consider- 

 able number of those inhabiting temperate climates are migratory ; 

 arriving at their summer quarters at the time when their natural 

 food begins to abound ; and retiring southwards when their 

 food begins to diminish, and the air becomes chilly. This is 

 the case, 'for example, with the Nightingale ; which passes its 

 summer in various parts of Europe, from South Britain and the 

 southern part of Sweden to the shores of the Mediterranean ; 

 and retires to Northern Africa, Egypt, and Syria, for the 



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