WARBLER. 7 



Hasselquist* speaks of it as being in Palestine ; and Fryer, f about 

 Chulminor, in Persia; said also to be found in China and Japan, at 

 which last place they are much esteemed, and sell dear :% likewise at 

 Aleppo, |[ being there in great abundance ; kept tame in houses, and 

 let out at a small rate, to such as choose it in the city, so that no 

 entertainment is made in the spring without a concert of these birds. 

 Common at the bird shops at Moscow, singing in cages, as finely as in 

 their native woods, the price of one fifteen rubles ; the same at Venice, 

 where innumerable cages of them are exposed for sale. In respect to 

 Africa, Sonnini § speaks of their inhabiting Lower Egypt, and as 

 they are very common in the summer at Gibraltar, they may be 

 supposed to occupy some space at least of Barbary, on the opposite 

 shore. None but the vilest epicure would think of eating these 

 charming songsters ; yet we are told, that their flesh is equal to that 

 of the Ortolan, and that they are fattened in Gascony for the table. 

 We read also of Heliogabalus eating the tongues of Nightingales; 

 and the famous dish of the Tragedian, Clodius iEsopus, composed 

 of those of every singing, or talking bird.^[ 



It does not appear that this has been ever found in America, 

 though many of their birds bear the name.** Whoever wishes to 

 learn more on this subject, may consult the Hist, des Ois. and Brit. 

 Zool. in both of which much more is said than we can here find 

 room for. 



* Common on the shores of the Nile. 



f " The Nightingale, the sweet harbinger of the light, is a constant cheerer of these 

 " groves ; charming, with its warbling strains, the heaviest soul into pleasing ecstacy."— 

 Trav. p. 248. 



J Sell there for twenty cobangs a piece. — Kcempf. Jap. i. 130. [| Russ. Alep. p. 7. 



§ At least in the most eastern part of that quarter of the globe, and the Isles of the 

 Archipelago, at the period of emigration. — Trav. ii. 51. 52. 



*\ Said to have cost about £6843 10s. of our money. — Plin. 1. x. ch. 51. Br. Zool. ii. 

 656. Note. 



** Virginian Nightingale, American Nightingale, Spanish Nightingale, all birds of a 

 different Species, and even Genus. 



