[ 20 7 ] 



To this I may alfo add, that thofe birds which feed on infects 

 are vaftly more feeble than thofe whofe bills can crack feeds, and 

 confequently, lefs capable of bearing any extraordinary hardfhips 

 or fatigue. 



But other proofs are not wanting that this bird cannot migrate 

 from England. 



Nightingales are very common in Denmark, Sweden, and Ruf- 

 fia i, as alfo in every other part of Europe, as well as Alia, if the 

 Arabic name is properly tranflated. Kempfer likewife informs us 

 that they are found in Japan, and much prized there. 



Now, if it is fuppofed that many of thefe birds which are ob- 

 ferved in the fouthern parts of England, crofs the German-fea, 

 from the oppofite corft of the continent ; why does not the fame 

 inftinct drive thofe of Denmark to Scotland, where no fuch bird 

 was ever feen or heard r ? 



But thefe are not all the difficulties which attend the hypothefis 

 of migration ; nightingales are agreed to be fcarcely ever obferved 

 to the weftward of Dorfetihire, or in the principality of Wales 5 , 

 much lefs in Ireland. 



I have alfo been informed, that thefe birds are not uncommon 

 in Worceftermire, whereas they are exceffively rare (if found at 

 all) in the neighbouring county of Hereford. 



* See Dr. Birch's Hiftory of the Royal Society, vol. III. p. 1 89. Lin- 

 nasi Fauna Suecica. and Biographia Britannica, art. Fletcher; where it 

 is faid, that they have in Ruffia a greater variety of notes than elfe- 

 where. 



r Sir Robert Sibbald, indeed, conceives the nightingale to be a bird 

 of North Britain; but, if I can depend upon many concurrent teftimo- 

 nies, no fuch bird is ever feen or heard fo far northward at prefent, nor 

 could l ever trace them in that direction further than Durham. 



s I have, however, frequently feen the nightingale's congener (and 

 fuppofed fellow-traveller) the redffcart in Wales. 



Whence 



