Chap. 45.] TJBJE (ElfASTHE, BTC. 511 



reed held crosswise, and then blowing into it, a langnette being 

 first inserted, for the purpose of breaking the sound and ren- 

 dering it more shriU,*' But these modulations, so clever and so 

 artistic, begin gradually to cease at the end of the fifteen days ; 

 not that you can say, however, that the bird is either &itigued 

 or tired of singing ; but, as the heat increases, its voice becomes 

 altogether changed, and possesses no longer either modula- 

 tion or variety of note. Its colour, too, becomes changed, and 

 at last, throughout the winter, it totally disappears. The tongue 

 of the nightingale is not pointed at the tip, as in other birds. 

 It lays at the beginning of the spring, six eggs at the most. 



CHAP. 44. — ^IHE MEIAITGOETPHTrS, THE EBITHACFS, AITD THE 

 PHOEKICimiTS. 



The change is different that takes place in the ficednla,*" 

 for this bird changes its shape as well as its colour. " Fice- 

 dula" is the name by which it is called in autumn, but not 

 after that period ; for then it is caUed " melancoryphns.'"' In 

 the same manner, too, the erithacus*^ of the winter is the 

 " phcenicums " of the summer. The hoopoe also, according 

 to the poet ^schylus, changes its form ; it is a bird that feeds 

 upon filth ^ of all kinds, and is remarkable for its twisted top- 

 knot, which it can contract or elevate at pleasure along the top 

 of the head. 



CHAP. 45. THE (ENANTHE, THE CHLOEIOlf, THE BLACBBIKD, AND 



THE XBIS. 



The oenanthe," too, is a bird that has stated days for its re- 



^ Something very similai to this, we often see practised by the water- 

 warhlers in onr streets. 



3" Cuvier supposes that this is one of the fly-catchers ; the " Muscicapa 

 atricapiUa" of Linnaeus, which changes in appearance entirely after the 

 breeduig season. 



M The "black-head." 



^ Cuvier thinks that this is the wall nightingale, the MotaciUa phoeni- 

 curns of Linnaeus, which is not seen in winter. On the other hand, the 

 Motadlla mbecnia of Linnaeus, or red-throat, is only seen during the 

 winter, and being like the other bird, may have been taken for it, and 

 named " phoenicurus." 



^ This is not 'the case. Aristotle only says that it builds its nest of 

 human ordnre ; a story probably without any foundation, but still prevalent 

 among the French peasantry. 



» It has not been identified with precision. Pliny, B. xriii. c. 69 calls 



