68 2 The Sparrow-like Birds 



spending most of their time on the ground in thick cover. The Siberian Ruby- 

 throat (C. calliope) passes the summer months in northern Asia up to the Arctic 

 Circle, and the winter in the southern countries, even reaching the Philippines; 

 it is a shy, solitary bird and has a low but very sweet song, which is said to be 

 but little inferior to that of the Nightingale. It nests on the ground and lays 

 four or five greenish blue, sparingly spotted eggs. 



Nightingales. Widely heralded in song and story as the producer of the 

 highest and most perfect type of bird music is the celebrated Nightingale, but, 

 says Mr. Hudson, the distinguished English ornithologist, "it is the only song- 

 ster that has been too much lauded, with the inevitable result that its melody, 

 when first heard, causes disappointment, and even incredulity." It was selected 

 centuries ago, perhaps on account of its singing at night when most other voices 

 are silent, "as the highest example of a perfect singer, and, on the principle that 

 to him that hath shall be given, it was credited with all the best qualities of all 

 the other singers. It was the maker of ravishing music and a type, just as the 

 Pelican was a type of parental affection and self-sacrifice, and the Turtle Dove 

 of conjugal fidelity." Notwithstanding these deprecatory statements, it is a 

 fine singer, and well merits a high place in the affections of all lovers of bird 

 music. 



The Nightingale (sEdon megarhyncha, or Daulias luscinia of authors) is a 

 small, plain bird, being only a trifle over six inches long, uniform brown tinged 

 with rufous above and grayish white beneath. It is a migratory species, coming 

 in April from its winter home in Africa to southern and central Europe, returning 

 year after year to the same localities. It is ordinarily a rather shy bird, frequent- 

 ing woodlands, groves, bramble thickets, and hedges, especially along streams, 

 where it secures its food, which consists exclusively of insects, mainly on the 

 ground, in general habits and appearance much resembling the Robin just de- 

 scribed. " It has the habit of hopping rapidly by fits and starts, standing erect 

 and motionless at intervals as if to listen, and occasionally throwing up the tail 

 and lowering the head and wings, just as the Robin does." It commences to 

 sing a few days after its arrival, keeping it up until the young are hatched in 

 June, singing in fine weather at intervals during the day and often late into the 

 night. The Nightingale makes a rather large, loose nest of dead leaves and 

 grasses, lined with finer grasses, rootlets, and occasionally horse-hair, placing it 

 on or near the ground under a hedge or in a dense thicket. The eggs are from 

 four to six in number, of a deep olive-brown color and unspotted; but a single 

 brood is reared. The female is solicitous for the care of the eggs and young, and 

 at this season often permits of a close approach. Of the four other species the 

 Thrush, or Western Nightingale (&. philomela), of Europe, southwestern Siberia, 

 and Asia Minor is larger, less rufescent in color, and has a more powerful but 

 not so sweet song, while the Persian Nightingale (M. golzii) of central Asia has 

 the whole upper plumage russet-brown. 



Magpie -Robins. Although not having by any means exhausted the re- 

 sources of this interesting subfamily, we may close our account with brief men- 

 tion of the Magpie-Robins (Copsychus), which are characterized by the possession 



