72 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



fair idea of its general form and proportions and also of 

 its simple colouring. It is a little over seven inches long 

 and is a slender, delicately made bird with close plumage. 

 The brown of the upper surface is greyer in some speci- 

 mens and redder in others, the tail being always reddest ; 

 the bill and feet are a sort of horny flesh-colour. Al- 

 together the Nightingale is a very hard bird to describe ; 

 but the very absence of any special feature its well- 

 balanced proportions and unrelieved soberness of colour 

 makes it not difficult to recognize when once seen. 

 And no other bird at all resembling it is commonly caged. 

 The hen is just like the cock ; but young birds will 

 probably be found to be spotted with buff, like the young 

 of the European bird. 



A considerable number of these birds are brought down 

 yearly from Cabul for sale in Calcutta, where they fetch 

 very high prices, from fifty to four hundred rupees. The 

 hens, of course, are almost valueless, and as the sexes 

 are so difficult to distinguish, it is necessary, when buy- 

 ing a Nightingale, to hear the bird sing one's self, and 

 also to make sure that the bird one sees really is the 

 performer ; as there is a trick of showing, and selling, the 

 intending purchaser a hen, while a cock is singing behind 

 a curtain ! The song of the Persian Nightingale, judging 

 from a very fine bird of Mr. Ezra's which I have heard, 

 is much stronger than that of the European Nightingale, 

 but less sweet in tone. The birds sing well in captivity in 

 the winter and spring months, and will live for years, 

 but need great care. The satoo given them must be of 

 the best, and carefully prepared, and insects must always 



