THE NIGHTINGALE. 21 9 



They do not continue silent auditors, they join the performance, and use 

 all their efforts to eclipse their rivals, to surpass all the other voices, and 

 even all other sounds. It is said that they have been known to drop down 

 dead at the feet of a person singing. Another has been seen fluttering, 

 swelling his throat, and uttering an angry warble every time. a canary 

 which was near him, began to sing; he succeeded by his threats in im- 

 posing silence, so true is it, that superiority is not always free from jealousy. 

 Can it be in consequence of the passion for pre-eminence, that these birds 

 are so careful to seize every advantage, and that they prefer singing in a 

 place favourable to sound, or within reach of an echo ? 



"All nightingales do not sing equally well. Some are so very inferior 

 as not to be worth keeping. It has even been thought that the song of 

 the nightingale is different in different countries. In England, those who 

 are curious respecting these birds, prefer, it is said, those of the county of 

 Surrey, to those of Middlesex ; as they prefer the greenfinch of Essex, and 

 the goldfinch of Kent. This diversity of song among birds of the same 

 species has very rationally been compared to the different dialects of the 

 same language. The true causes can hardly be assigned, as they are for tht 

 most part accidental. A nightingale may perhaps have heard other singing 

 birds, or emulation may have caused him to perfect his song, which he 

 thus transmits improved to his descendants, for every father is the singing 

 master of his family ; and it is easy to perceive that in succeeding generations 

 the song may be still further improved or modified by similar accidents. 



" After the month of June, the nightingale sings no more, and he re- 

 tains only a hoarse cry, a sort of croaking, by which the melodious Phi- 

 lomel cannot be recognised, and it ; s not surprising that formerly, in Italy, 

 they g.we him a different name under these circumstances. He is indeed 

 another bird, a bird altogether different in respect of voice, and even, in a 

 great degree, in respect of the colour of his plumage. 



'* Among nightingales, as well as other species, some females are found 

 participating in the constitution of the male, his habits, and especially in 

 his musical powers. I have seen, in confinement, one of these female 

 singers. Her warble resembled that of the male, but was neither so strong 

 nor so varied. She preserved it till spring ; but then subduing the exer- 

 cise of her talent to the natural duties of her sex, she became silent, in 

 older to build her nest, and to lay, though she was solitary. It appears 

 that, in varm countries, such as Greece, it is very common to see these 

 ft-male singers, and respecting this species and many others we may draw 

 tlie same inference from a passage of Aristotle. One would hardly imagine 

 that so varied a song as that of the nightingale is confined within a single 

 octave ; this is, however, the result of the attentive observations of a man 

 of taste (M. le docteur Remond). He remarked, indeed, some sharp 

 tones which formed the double octave, and which were emitted like light- 

 uing ; but this happens rarely, and when the bird by a powerful effort of 

 the gullet raises his voice to the octave. 



'* The same observer discovered shakes on the third, fourth, and octave, 

 but always from sharp to flat ; cadences, generally in the minor, on almost 

 every note ; but no arpeggios, no coherent design." 



Independent of these talents, the nightingale possesses a quality very 

 to augment the number of his friends ; he is capable, after some 



