It,; VEliTEBRATA. 



(fniHs SVL\IA : Si/lrla. — Tliis iiiclii<l(s iIk; Nightingale — a word from tlie Saxon meaning 

 Xijht-siiKnr — S. liisciiiia — Luscinia of tlic Ivouiaiis ; Ihiynuolo of the Italians ; Ross'ujnol of the 

 Fronrli; ami Xiirhti;/<tit t>\' tlu- ( icrniaiis— the inost .•clcliratcl of featlicml songsters. It is a 

 .small Mill, ahoiit tli.- .size of a bluobinl ; six inches long, and weighs half an ounce, yet its voice 

 in the night can he h.^ard a mile, as far as the loudest voice of man. Its color is a rich brown 

 above, with a reddish tinge on the rump and tail; throat and middle part of the belly grayish- 

 white; the sexes alike. It spends the winter in llie warm parts of Asia and Africa, and migrates 

 into Europe, even a^ far iMuth as Sweden, in Api'il and .May. The males proceed first, and on 

 arriving in the regions they intend to occui)y, pour out their sweetest and most seductive songs 

 to attract the females. The pairing being arranged, they proceed to their household cares. 

 .Vlthough they shun observation, yet their haunts are in gardens and thickets near the abodes of 

 man. They are abundant in the pleasui-e-grounds around London, and in the parks and gardens 

 in the vicinitv of Paris. Morenee, in ihe vocal season, that is, in May and June, rings with them. 

 Nevertheless, thev hide themselves in tlieir coverts, placing their nests sometimes in the fork of a 

 tree, often on a wall, and still more frequently on the ground. AVithered leaves, particularly 

 those of the oak, very loosely conjoined with dried bents and rushes, and lined internally with 

 fine root-fibers, form the structure. The eggs, of an olive-brown, are four or five in number. 

 After till' young are hatched, generally in June, the melodious song of the male ceases, and is 

 succeeded by a low croak, varied occasionally with a snapping noise; the first is considered to be 

 meant for a warning, and the last a defiance. The food consists of insects, such as flies and 

 spiders, moths and earwigs. 



The soiKT of the Nio-htino-ale has lono; been the standing theme on which poets have exhausted 

 their eulogiums. Bufton's description has ever been regarded as a most felicitous, though per- 

 haps extravagant eulogium. Bcchstein says in a more sober tone : "The nightingale expresses 

 its various emotions and desires in difterent notes. The least significant of them seems to be the 

 simple whistle, Witt/ but if the guttural syllable Xrr/ be added, as Witt Krr! it is the call by 

 which the male and female mutually invite one another. The expression of displeasure or fear 

 is the syllabic Witt^ repeated several times, and, at last, followed by Krr! That of pleasure and 

 content, either with its food or mate, is a sharp Tack! like the sound produced by striking the 

 tongue smartly against the roof of the mouth. In anger, jealousy, or surprise, the nightingale, 

 like the black-cap and others of its species, utters a shrill cry, resembling the call of the jay, or 

 the mew of a cat. This may also be heard in the aviary, when a bird, by the use of it, endeavors 

 to interrupt and confuse a rival in the midst of his song. And, lastly, in the pairing season, when 

 the male and female entice and pursue one another through the trees, they utter a soft twittering 

 note. 



"Such are the tunes wdiich both sexes are able to produce; while the song, the variety and 

 beauty of which has raised the nightingale to a pre-eminence over all other singing birds, is the 

 prerogative of the male alone. The bystander is astonished to hear a song, which is so sonorous 

 as to make his ears tingle, proceed from so small a bird, and liis astonishment is not lessened 

 when he discovers that the muscles of the larynx arc stronger in the nightingale than in any 

 other singing bird. But it is not so much the strength, as the delightful variety and ravishing 

 harmony of the nightingale's song, which render it the favorite of every one who has not alto- 

 gether lost the sense of the beautiful. Sometimes it dwells for a mimite or more on a passage of 

 detached mournful notes, which begin softly, advance by degrees to a forte, and end in a dying 

 fall. At other times it utters a rapid succession of sharp, sonorous notes, and ends this, and the 

 many other phrases of which its song consists, with the single notes of an ascending chord. There 

 are, of course, various degrees of proficiency in the nightingale, as in other birds ; but in the song 

 of a good performer have been enumerated, without reckoning smaller distinctions, no less than 

 twenty-four separate phrases, capable of being expressed in articulate syllables and words.* 



"It is a pity that the period during which the nightingale sings is so short, as even in a wild 

 state it sings only for three months, and not with equal vigor during the whole of that shoi-t time, 



* See p. 13 ; where the result of an attempt to put the Nightingale's song into words is given. 



