NIGHTINGALE. 305 



was accordingly done ; the eggs carefully packed in wool, 

 and transmitted to Sir John by the mail. Sir John em- 

 ployed several men to find, and take care of, the nests of 

 several Robins, in places where the eggs might be deposited 

 and hatched with security. The Robins' eggs were re- 

 moved, and replaced by those of the Nightingale, which 

 were all sat upon, hatched in due time, and the young 

 brought up by the foster-parents. The songsters flew 

 when fully fledged, and were observed for some time after- 

 wards near the places where they were incubated. In 

 September, the usual migratory period, they disappeared, 

 but never returned to the place of their birth." 



M. Nilsson says that the Nightingale arrives in Sweden 

 by the 1st of May ; and Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, 

 says this bird visits the temperate parts of Russia and some 

 parts of Siberia. It breeds in Germany, France, Spain, 

 Provence, and Italy ; but leaves even the most southern 

 parts of this last-named country by the end of September, 

 or early in October, going by Sicily and Malta to pass the 

 winter in North Africa, Egypt, and Syria. Mr. Strickland 

 saw this bird at Smyrna on the 5th of April. It also 

 visits the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. Mr. Blyth 

 has found it in India. 



The beak is brown ; the irides hazel : the head, and all 

 the upper parts of the body and wings, of a uniform rich 

 brown, tinged with reddish chestnut ; the tail-feathers still 

 more rufous, and rather rounded in form : all the under 

 surface of the bird dull greyish white ; the chin, and the 

 lower part of the breast, of a lighter tint than the throat 

 and chest ; under tail-coverts pale reddish white ; legs, 

 toes, and claws, brown. 



The whole length of the bird, six inches and three- 







eighths. From the carpus to the end of the longest pri- 

 VOL. i. x 



