20 THRUSH NIGHTINGALE. 



Dalmatia. According to Temminck it is also found in 

 Spain^ but this is doubted by Count Miihle. It ranges 

 south as far as tlie Volga, the Caucasus, Egypt, and 

 Persia. It is rare in France, though. M. Gerbe records 

 the appearance of two specimens in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, in September, 1847. It does not occur in 

 Holland. 



Count Miihle informs us that it appears later than 

 the Nightingale, but that it chooses the same localities^ 

 preferring, however, the neighbourhood of water and 

 marshes. It likes to select its dwelling in the deep- 

 lying thickets among the cultivated islands on the large 

 rivers. In Germany it especially frequents the shores 

 of the Don, Oder, Elbe, and their tributaries, but is 

 rarely found on the Ehine. 



In its habits the Thrush Nightingale appears more 

 impetuous and not so graceful as its congener; its song 

 is deeper and louder, and by some not thought so 

 pleasing. It builds generally on stumps of trees. It 

 lays five or six eggs, which, as will be seen by the 

 figure of a specimen sent me by M. Verreaux, are very 

 similar to those of our well-known species. Count 

 Miihle says the egg is generally darkly spotted, which 

 is not however mentioned by Temminck, and denied 

 by Degland. All the specimens sent me by M. Ver- 

 reaux are deep olive, like that figured; one lighter in 

 colour, but none of them with any spots. 



The plumage is so like that of the Common Night- 

 ingale, that it is not necessary to give any lengthened 

 detail. The male and female have the upper parts of 

 a dull grey brown; clear grey, tinted with darker on 

 the chest; tail less brightly marked with russet than in 

 the Common Nightingale; throat white, surrounded by 

 dark grey; feet brown. 



