90 TREATISE ON 



certainly the most melodious of European warblers- 

 In Asia and Africa he is equally prized ; and for this 

 unrivalled excellence he may, perhaps, be styled 

 the first songster in the world. Many, it is true, 

 may have their favourite song-birds: One may 

 prefer the note of the woodlark, — another that ol 

 the canary ; but it is well known the general voice 

 is decidedly in favour of the nightingale. In the 

 diflPerent countries of Europe where these birds are 

 found, they are only partial visitors, and that du- 

 ring a very few of the spring and summer months. 

 Nightingales arrive in England about the end of 

 March or the beginning of April, and leave it to- 

 wards the end of August, and have generally two 

 broods in the season. These birds were highly 

 prized by the Romans. Pliny says of it : " This 

 bird, which, for fifteen days and nights, hid in the 

 thickest shades, continues her note without inter- 

 mission, deserves our attention and wonder. How. 

 surprising that so great a voice can reside in so^ 

 small a body ! — such perseverance in so minute 

 an animal ! With what a musical propriety are the 

 sounds it produces modulated ! — the note, at one 

 time, drawn out with a long breath, now stealing 

 into a different cadence, — now interrupted by a > 

 break, — then changing into a new note, by an 



