146 
VERTEBliATA. 
Qenus SYLVIA : Sylvia. — This includes tlie Nightingale — a word from the Saxon meaning 
Night-singer — S. luscinia — Luscinia of the Romans ; Usignuolo of the Italians ; Rossignol of the 
French ; and Naclitigall of the Germans — the most celebrated of feathered songsters. It is a 
small bird, about the size of a bluebird ; six inches long, and weighs half an ounce, yet its voice 
in the night can be heard a mile, as far as the loudest voice of man. Its color is a rich brown 
above, with a reddish tinge on the rump and tail; throat and middle part of the belly grayish- 
white ; the sexes alike. It spends the winter in the warm parts of Asia and Africa, and migrates 
into Europe, even as far north as Sweden, in April and May. The males proceed first, and on 
arriving in the regions they intend to occupy, pour out their sweetest and most seductive songs 
to attract the females. The pairing being arranged, they proceed to their household cares. 
Although they shun observation, yet their haunts are in gardens and thickets near the abodes of 
man. They are abundant in the pleasure-grounds around London, and in the parks and gardens 
in the vicinity of Paris. Florence, in the vocal season, that is, in May and June, rings with them. 
Nevertheless, they hide themselves in their coverts, placing their nests, sometimes in the fork of a 
tree, often on a Avail, and still more frequently on the ground. Withered leaves, particularly 
those of the oak, very loosely conjoined with dried bents and rushes, and lined internally with 
fine root-fibers, form the structure. The eggs, of an olive-brown, are four or five in number. 
After the young are hatched, generally in June, the melodious song of the male ceases, and is 
succeeded by a low croak, varied occasionally with a snapping noise ; the first is considered to be 
meant for a warning, and the last a defiance. The food consists of insects, such as flies and 
spiders, moths and earwigs. 
The song of the Nightingale has long been the standing theme on which poets have exhausted 
their eulogiums. Buflon's description has ever been regarded as a most felicitous, though per- 
haps extravagant eulogium. Bechstein says in a more sober tone : "The nightingale expresses 
its various emotions and desires in difi'erent notes. The least siofuificant of them seems to be the 
simple whistle, Witt! but if the guttural syllable Krr! be added, as Witt Krr! it is the call by 
which the male and female mutually invite one another. The expression of displeasure or fear 
is the syllable Witt, repeated several times, and, at last, followed by Krr ! That of pleasure and 
content, either with its food or mate, is a sharp Tack! like the sound produced by striking the 
tongue smartly against the roof of the mouth. In anger, jealousy, or surprise, the nightingale, 
like the black-cap and others of its species, utters a shrill cry, resembling the call of the jay, or 
the mew of a cat. This may also be heard in the aviary, when a bird, by the use of it, endeavors 
to, interrupt and confuse a rival in the midst of his song. And, lastly, in the pairing season, when 
the male and female entice and pursue one another through the trees, they utter a soft twittering 
note. 
"Such are the tunes which both sexes are able to produce; while the song, the variety and 
beauty of which has raised the nightingale to a pre-eminence over all other singing birds, is the 
prerogative of the male alone. The bystander is astonished to hear a song, which is so sonorous 
as to make his ears tingle, proceed from so small a bird, and his astonishment is not lessened 
when he discovers that the muscles of the larynx are stronger in the nightingale than in any 
other singing bird. But it is not so much the strength, as the delightful variety and ravishing 
harmony of the nightingale's song, wKich render it the favorite of every one who has not alto~ 
gether lost the sense of the beautiful. Sometimes it dwells for a minute or more on a passage of 
detached mournful notes, which begin softly, advance by degrees to a forte, and end in a dying 
fall. At other times it utters a rapid succession of sharp, sonorous notes, and ends this, and the 
many other phrases of which its song consists, with the single notes of an ascending chord. There 
are, of course, various degrees of proficiency in the nightingale, as in other birds; but in the song 
of a good performer have been enumerated, without reckoning smaller distinctions, no less than 
twenty-four separate phrases, capable of being expressed in articulate syllables and words.* 
" It is a pity that the period during which the nightingale sings is so short, as even in a wild 
state it sings only for three months, and not with equal vigor during the whole of that short time. 
* See p. 13 ; where the result of an attempt to put the Nightingale's song into words is given. 
