SYLVIIN^E. SYLVIA. 148 



with the feathers of the upper parts tipped with reddish-yel- 

 low, those of the lower margined with dusky. 



Male, 6^, 10-J-, 3 T \, T \, 1, T ^, T \. Female, 6^, 10, 

 The Nightingale arrives in the south of England about the 

 middle of April, dispersing over the southern and eastern coun- 

 ties, and proceeding as far north as the vicinity of York and 

 Carlisle. Although supposed to have been heard in Scotland, 

 it has never been obtained there. Its favourite haunts are 

 copses and hedge-rows, and its food insects of various sorts. 

 Being so highly esteemed on account of the pre-eminence of 

 its song, it is caught in considerable numbers. The nest is 

 bulky, formed of dry leaves, and lined with grass, fibrous roots, 

 and hair. The eggs, four or five, are of a uniform pale olive- 

 brown, often tinged with greyish-blue, nine and a half twelfths 

 of an inch in length, seven-twelfths in breadth. 



Motacilla Luscinia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 328. Sylvia Lus- 

 cinia, Temm. Mann. d'Ornith. i. 195. Philomela Luscinia, 

 Brake Nightingale, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 321. 



GENUS XLIV. SYLVIA. WARBLER. 



Bill rather short, slender, a little broader than high at the 

 base, slightly compressed toward the end ; upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line straight and declinate, the ridge narrow, 

 the notches rather distinct, the tip decimate, very narrow, 

 and blunt ; lower mandible with the dorsal line very slightly 

 convex, the tip broader than that of the upper ; gape-line 

 straight. Mouth of moderate width ; tongue slender, sagit- 

 tate, finely papillate at the base, tapering to a slit and lace- 

 rate point ; oesophagus of moderate width, without dilatation ; 

 proventriculus oblong ; stomach a gizzard of moderate power, 

 roundish, compressed, its muscles rather thin, the tendons 

 large, the epithelium thin, dense, longitudinally rugous ; in- 

 testine short, of moderate width ; coeca very small, cylindri- 

 cal. Nostrils oblong, narrow, operculate. Eyes rather small. 

 Aperture of ear large, roundish. Head ovate ; neck short ; 

 body ovate, rather slender. Feet slender ; tarsus rather short, 

 much compressed, with eight distinct anterior scutella ; toes 

 of moderate length, much compressed, the first rather large, 

 the lateral equal, the third and fourth united at the base ; 

 claws rather stout, well arched, much compressed, laterally 

 grooved, acute. Plumage soft and blended ; wings of mo- 



