NIGHTINGALE WARBLER. 



577 



the head and upper parts of the body pale tawny : 

 the quills brown, their outer webs reddish brown: 

 the under parts are grey brown: the tail deep 

 tawny red : female rather less, but similar in 

 colour. 



Notwithstanding this bird is common in this 

 country, it never visits the northern parts, and 

 but seldom occurs in the western counties of 

 Devonshire and Cornwall, although it is plentiful 

 in the adjoining counties of Somersetshire and 

 Dorsetshire, and the two former places are well 

 wooded, and apparently equally calculated for its 

 abode : its northern bounds appear to be about 

 Doncaster, in Yorkshire ; but on the continent 

 it occurs in Sweden and Germany much farther 

 north than many parts of Scotland. In Asia it 

 extends even to Siberia and Kamtschatka : in the 

 eastern quarter of the globe it appears to be most 

 iabundant, and appears at all times in India, Persia, 

 China, and Japan, where it is greatly prized. In 

 Aleppo these birds are tamed, and are let out for 

 the evening for the purpose of entertaining by 

 their song. 



The males appear about the latter end of April, 

 or the beginning of May ; the females about a 

 week or ten days later : the male never quits the 

 spot first resorted to, but entices the female with 

 his song. 



Shortly after their arrival the nest is constructed; 

 it is fixed in a low bush or hedge, well covered 

 with leaves, and is composed of dry leaves and 

 grass, and lined with hair or down ; it is often 



