WARBLERS. 85 



simple song to a warble the most varied, and from 

 the softest trillings and swells to languishing and 

 lamentable sighs, which he as quickly abandons, 

 to return to his natural sprightliness."* 



A notion has long prevailed that the song of 

 the Nightingale is heard to most advantage in the 

 east, and that it declines in sweetness and rich- 

 ness in proportion as it is found farther to the 

 north and west. Thus the Nightingales of Per- 

 sia, Turkey, and Greece are said to be more melo- 

 dious than those of Italy, while the Italian birds 

 are esteemed by amateurs superior to those of 

 France ; and these last to those of England. 

 The London fanciers prefer those of Surrey to 

 those taken north of London. Yet, perhaps, this 

 superiority is more fancied than real ; and cer- 

 tainly not constant, if we receive the testimony of 

 one familiar with the melody of birds. " In 

 1802," observes Mr. Syme, " being at Geneva, at 

 the residence of a friend, about three miles from 

 the town, in a quiet, sequestered spot, surrounded 

 by gardens and forests, and within hearing of the 

 murmur of the Rhone, there, in a beautiful still 

 evening, the air soft and balmy, the windows of 

 the house open, and the twilight chequered by 

 trees, there we heard two Nightingales sing, in- 

 deed, most delightfully, but not more so than 

 one we heard down a stair, in a dark cellar, in the 

 High Street in Edinburgh ! such a place as that 

 described in ( The Antiquary ;' no window, and 

 no light admitted, but what came from the open 

 door, and the atmosphere charged with the fumes 

 of tobacco and spirits; (it was a place where car- 

 riers lodged, or put up,) and the heads of the 



* Spec, de la Nature, i. 156. 



