Chap. 45.] 
THE (ENANTHE, ETC. 
511 
reed held crosswise, and then blowing into it, a languette being 
first inserted, for the purpose of breaking the sound and ren- 
dering it more shrill.^ Eut these modulations, so clever and so 
artistic, begin gradually to cease at the end of the fifteen days ; 
not that you can say, however, that the bird is either fatigued 
or tired of singing ; but, as the heat increases, its voice becomes 
altogether changed, and possesses no longer either modula- 
tion or variety of note. Its colour, too, becomes changed, and 
at last, throughout the winter, it totally disappears. The tongue 
of the nightingale is not pointed at the tip, as in other birds. 
It lays at the beginning of the spring, six eggs at the most. 
CHAP. 44. — THE MELANCOEYPHirS, THE EKITHACTJS, AlO) THE 
PHCENICURIJS. 
The change is different that takes place in the ficedula,^^ 
for this bird changes its shape as well as its colour. Pice- 
dula is the name by which it is called in autumn, but not 
after that period ; for then it is called melancoryphus."^^ In 
the same manner, too, the erithacus^^ of the winter i« the 
phcenicurus " of the summer. The hoopoe also, according 
to the poet JEschylus, changes its form ; it is a bird that feeds 
upon filth of all kinds, and is remarkable for its twisted top- 
knot, which it can contract or elevate at pleasure along the top 
of the head. 
CHAP. 45. THE (ENANTHE, THE CHLOEION, THE BLACKBIBD, AI^D 
THE IBIS. 
The oenanthe,^* too, is a bird that has stated days for its re- 
29 Something very similar to this, we often see practised by the water- 
warblers in our streets. 
20 Cuvier supposes that this is one of the fly-catchers ; the " Muscicapa 
atricapilla " of Linnaeus, which changes in appearance entirely after the 
breeding season. 
31 The "black-head." 
32 Cuvier thinks that this is the wall nightingale, the Motacilla phceni- 
curus of Linnaeus, which is not seen in winter. On the other hand, the 
MotacUla rubecula of Linnaeus, or red-throat, is only seen during the 
winter, and being like the other bird, may have been taken for it, and 
named *' phcenicurus." 
33 This is not the case. Aristotle only says that it builds its nest of 
human ordure ; a story probably without any foundation, but still prevalent 
among the French peasantry. 
It has not been identified with precision. Pliny, B, xviii. c. 69 calls 
