By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



173 



rival and departure, in the localities it frequents, in habits, general 

 appearance, and colour : it is however not nearly so common. Mon- 

 tagu says that " in Wiltshire and Somersetshire where the Sedge 

 Warbler abounds, not a single Reed Warbler is. to be found;" here, 

 however, our worthy countryman is mistaken, for I have myself 

 observed it by the banks of more than one reecly stream ; Mr. Marsh 

 has frequently seen it on the Avon; Mr. Withers has taken it near 

 Devizes, and I have several other notices of its periodical appear- 

 ance among us.' Mr. Selby pronounces its song to be superior to 

 that of the Sedge Warbler, both in volume and in sweetness, but in 

 truth it requires a very accurate ear as well as eye to distinguish 

 these two graceful little warblers from one another. 



"Nightingale." (Philomela luscinia.) I need not point out the 

 localities which these birds frequent, for who does not know whe- 

 ther a nightingale haunts the thicket near him, and who does not 

 remember the spots where he has listened to this wondrous songster 

 of the grove, or as good old Izaak Walton styles it, this "chiefest 

 of the little nimble musicians of the air that warble forth their 

 curious ditties, with which nature has furnished them, to the shame 

 of art ?" But the nightingale seems very fanciful in her selection 

 of habitation, and is guided by some choice which we cannot 

 fathom : in the most western and warmest parts of our island it is 

 rarely heard, and in our own county while one wood resounds night 

 after night, and year after year with their wondrous melody, a 

 neighbouring copse, apparently in all respects equally suited to 

 their tastes, is never honoured by their presence. It arrives here 

 towards the end of April or beginning of May, and being of a very 

 shy, timid nature, seeks the thickest hedges and most impenetrable 

 copses, where though so often listened to, it is rarely seen, and few 

 are acquainted with the form of the humble but elegant little brown 

 bird, which charms them so with its unrivalled song. Its name 

 is derived (as Pennant informs us) from our English night, and the 

 Saxon word galan to sing; not however that it is silent during the 

 day, but then the chorus of voices, loud and shrill and numerous, 

 drown it so that it cannot so readily be distinguished as in the witch- 

 ing hour of twilight, when other songsters are hushed in repose. 



