THE NIGHTINGALE OF EUROPE. 375 



dull olive-color above, grayish-white beneath ; on the crown a patch of bright 

 scarlet. The golden-crowned wren is a little smaller, with brighter colors. 

 and its crest is a brilliant golden color. 



Family Sylvid.e. Sylviaxs. 



In this family are included the Sylvina^ (the Old "World Warblers), the 

 Lanina^ (the Shrikes), and the Muscicapin:c (the Flycatchers). These birds 

 are distinguisiied bv the following characters : — 



r broud and depressed nt base. I'^eet very small SItt'^cicvpin E 



5r/,r//).E.> , Keet moderately Cl^'Jr%-'''''',''',T-'r'';;'''''''"'\'fl'"""'''"'' , 



Bill • • ■ i lip'e liill .) tlie liookeil till of tile luandlMe Lanin.k. 



C ' o • '^ moderate, Kiilnilate,emar^'inated behind the 



C tip of tlie maudible Syi,\'in.e. 



Of the group vS^lvina!, the most ftimiliar example is the Xightin-rale of 

 Europe. This bird, so plainly attired in tawny brownish-gray above and 

 grayish-white beneath, is well known as one of the most splendid of sonn- 

 sters. 



A recent writer in " Once a AVcck " jrivcs us the following interestin"' 

 description of the bird and its habits : — 



"IIabits of the Nightingale. — It is not wonderful that fables should 

 have arisen concerning the nightingale, for there are mysteries connected 

 with his appearance and departure which the most searching investigations 

 of modern science have not yet explained. lie comes among us very sud- 

 denly about the 14th or 15th of April; punctual almost to tlic day. His 

 plumage, so fresh, so unruffled, in every way so perfect, that a long flight 

 over hundreds of leagues of land and sea appears highly improbable. It has 

 been noticed too, that when captured immediately after his first appearance, 

 he has a slight pleasant odor of earth freshly dug, or after a summer shower. 

 One might tiience imagine that, like some of our beautiful moths, he has 

 just emerged from a deeply-buried chrysalis ; added to wiiich, his extraordi- 

 nary fearlessness of man for the first few days after his advent, which renders 

 his capture so easy, might lead the fanciful to picture him to themselves as a 

 newly-formed creature, as yet unaware that man was a natural enemy. 



" So bold is he on his first arrival that if a portion of the earth be freshly 

 raked over, or turned with a spade by one of those bird-catchers, who each 

 season make a trade of capturing nightingales, these birds will immediately 

 a2iproach the place to seek for insects ere the hunter is scarcely out of sight ; 

 and if, close to the new turned earth, a 'clasp net' has been baited with the 

 irresistible attraction of a meal-worm, the capture of the unsuspecting victim 

 is certain. Last season I was nuich amioyed by seeing one of these blrd- 

 catchere leavinij the woods round Pinner with seventy male nightingales so 

 ca[)tured, just at the time that every copse in the neighborhood was begin- 

 ninfj to resound with their enchanting music. 



