468 



A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Key to species of 



LUSCINIA. 

 2 



i Tail uniform . . ... ... 



j Tail parti -coloured, lateral rectrices ferruginous 

 ( at base, brown at tip 



( 1st primary shorter than primary-coverts . 

 * j 1st primary as long as or longer than primary- 



L. svecica, p. 473 

 L. luscinia, p. 471 



coverts 



. L. megarhyncha, p. 468 



LUSCINIA MEGARHYNCHA 



191. Luscinia megarhyncha megarhyncha Brehm THE 

 NIGHTINGALE. 



LUSCINIA MEGAKHYNCHOS Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl., p. 356 



(1831 Germany). 



Daulias luscinia* (Linnaeus), Yarrell, i, p. 312 ; Saunders, p. 39. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 

 16). Adult nude and 

 female. Winter. 

 Whole upper - parts 

 rufous -brown ; upper 

 tail-coverts brighter 

 chestnut -brown ; lores 

 brownish -white, 

 feathers tipped brown; 

 orbital ring brownish- 

 white ; ear - coverts 

 brown mesially 

 streaked brownish - 

 white ; chin and centre 

 of throat dull white ; 

 sides of throat, upper- 

 breast and flanks pale 

 greyish-brown to pale 

 yellowish -brown ; rest 

 of breast and belly 



dull white ; under tail-coverts pale creamy-buff ; under wing-coverta 

 brown tipped creamy-buff ; axillaries creamy-buff with brown bases ; 

 tail-feathers uniform chestnut -brown, central pair rather duller ; 

 primaries and secondaries, inner webs black-brown edged pale 

 brown, outer webs rufous-brown, innermost secondaries rufous- 

 brown on both webs ; wing-coverts rufous-brown, the greater series 

 having darker brown inner webs. This plumage is acquired by 



* The specific name luscinia originally referred to the Thrush-Nightingale 

 or Sprosser, and cannot, therefore, be used for our Nightingale ! See, among 

 others, Sharpe, Handlist, iv, p. 153. E.H. 



A. The Nightingale (Luscinia m. megarhyncha). B. The 

 Thrush-Nightingale (L. luscinia). Showing differences 

 in wing-formula. Note especially lengths of 1st and 

 2nd primaries, and 3rd and 4th emarginated in Nightin- 

 gale and only 3rd in Thrush-Nightingale. 



