M O T A C 1 L L A. 
75 
catchers have given the following names: Sweet, Sweet 
jug', Jug fweet, Water bubble. Pipe rattle, Bell pipe, Scroty , 
Slceg, Slug Jheg, Swat J'wat fwaty, Whitlow whitlow whit¬ 
low, from fome diltant affinity the founds bear to thefe 
words. 
The nightingale unqueftionably excels all other birds 
in the foftnefs, mellownefs, and duration, of its fong, 
which fometimes lafts without interruption twenty mi¬ 
nutes. Barrington reckons fixteen diflindt notes between 
the high eft and lowed; and finds that its uninterrupted 
long fills a circle of a mile in diameter, which is equal to 
the power of the human voice. Mr. J. Hunter dilcovered 
that the mufcles of the larynx are llronger in this fpecies 
than in any other; and even that they were ftrongeft in 
the male, which alone fings. The tame nightingales ling 
during fix months in the year; and their fong has not 
only more extent, but is more perfe&ly formed : whence 
Barrington infers, that in this fpecies, as well as in many 
others, the male does not ling wholly with the view of 
amufing the female, or of relieving the tedium of incu¬ 
bation ; a conclufion which is juft and well-founded. 
When the nightingale is confined, his wants are fupplied 
and anticipated, he enjoys the vernal mildnefs through 
the greater part of the year, and the melody of his fong 
ceafes only for a Ihort interval. Such is alfo the cafe with 
thole which are caught after they are grown up ; within 
a few' hours they often refume their long, in all its rich- 
nefs of expreffion. But the love of liberty is not extin- 
guifiied in their boforn : for the firft week they can hardly 
f'upport their forlorn condition ; they muft be pinioned 
and fed. However, their paffion for finging furmounts 
every defponding recollection. The notes of other birds, 
the lmilic of inftruments, the accents of fweet and fono- 
rous voices, ftimulate and awaken their latent powers. 
They are eagerly attracted by fweet founds, and feem par¬ 
ticularly fond of duettos; which Ihcws that they are not 
infenfible to the eft'eCts of harmony. But they are not 
fdent auditors; they ftrike the unil'on, and llrive to excel 
their rivals. It is faid that a nightingale dropped dead 
at the feet of a perfon who fung; another fretted, fwelled 
its throat, and murmured difeontent whenever a canary, 
which was befide it, began to chant, till at laft, by its 
menaces, it filenced its competitor. Real fuperiority is 
not always exempt from jealoufy. May not this defire of 
excelling be the reafon why they choofe advantageous 
fituations, and delight to fing to the returning echo ? It 
really feems upon fome fuch principle, that the nightin¬ 
gales at Aleppo, as w'e are informed by Dr. Ruflell, are 
taught to vie with each other in finging. In that part of 
the Levant they are bred up tame in great abundance, 
and let out to hire in the city ; fo that in the fpring feafon 
few entertainments are given without a concert of thefe 
birds, which begins at the command of their owner. 
The nightingales differ much in the quality of their 
fong; in lome it is fo inferior, that they are reckoned not 
worth keeping. It is even faid that their note is not the 
lame in every country: the bird-fanciers in England pre¬ 
fer the nightingales of Surrey to thofe of Middlefex; as 
they value molt the goldfinches from Kent. This diver- 
fity of fong has been properly compared to the different 
dialeCts of the fame language. It may arife from acci¬ 
dental caufes: a nightingale happens to hear the fweet 
mufic of fome other birds, and, in the glow of emulation, 
improves his own; he communicates the melody to his 
young; and thus it is tranfmitted, with various altera¬ 
tions, through the fucceeding races. After the month 
of June, the nightingale’s fong is gone; a raucous croak¬ 
ing fucceeds, and the fweet philomela is no longer recog¬ 
nized. No wonder that, in ancient Italy, it then received 
another name; for, in regard to fong, it is quite a different 
bird ; and even the dull colours of its plumage aflume a 
duller hue. 
“ A mufician,” fays Frifch, “ ought to ftudy the fong 
of the nightingale, and write it.” This is what Ki reiver 
formerly attempted, and which has been lately tried by 
Daines Barrington : yet he owns that he could not fuc- 
ceed; for, though the notes were played by an excellent 
performer on the flute, they bore no refemblance to the 
nightingale’s fong. The animated organ of voice can 
alone afpire to the muiic of nature; and the rare accom- 
plilhment of a foft, clear, flexible, fonorous tone, of a 
delicate and difeerning ear, and of an exquifite fenfibi- 
lity, may fometimes partly fucceed. Buffon mentions 
two perfons, who, though they had not noted a Angle bar, 
imitated the nightingale fo accurately, as to deceive the 
hearer: they ratherwhiftled than fung: the one whittled 
fo foftly, that it was impofiible to perceive the motion of 
his lips; the other blew with more force, and his atti¬ 
tude was fomewhat conltrained, though his imitation was 
Hill perferi. Sixty years ago, there was a perfon in Lon¬ 
don who attracted the nightingales with his fong; info- 
much that they alighted on him, and allowed themfelves 
to be caught by the hand. This is recorded in the An¬ 
nual Regiiter for 1764. 
The nightingales are very folitary ; they migrate alone, 
appearing in April and May, and retiring in Auguft 
The union between the fexes in the fpring feems to in- 
creafe their averlion to fociety; they feleCt certain traCts, 
and oppofe the encroachments of others on their territo¬ 
ries. But this conduft is not occafioned by rivalfliip, as 
fome have fuppofed: it is l’uggefted by the folicitude for 
the maintenance of their young, and ‘regulated by the 
extent of ground neceflary to afford fufficient food. They 
begin to build about the opening of May. The materials 
are leaves, ruffies, ftalks of coarfe grafs, and the infide is 
lined with fmall fibres and roots, horfehair, and a fort 
of bur. They are placed in a favourable afpeCt, turned 
fomewhat to the eaft, near water, and commonly on the 
lowed: branches of ffirubs, as white-thorns, floes, elm- 
hedges, &c. or in a tuft of grafs under bufhes. And 
hence their eggs and their young, and fometimes the 
mother, are often devoured by polecats, weafels, adders, 
&c. In our climate the female lays four or five eggs, of 
an uniform greeniih brown, except that the brown pre¬ 
dominates at the obtufe end, and the green at the acute. 
She hatches alone, and never leaves her ftation but for 
food, and then only in the evening, and when hard prefled 
with hunger; during her abfence, the male feems to at¬ 
tend the neft. In eighteen or twenty days the young 
begin to burft their ffiells, and the number of the cock 
birds is generally double that of the hens. And hence, 
when in April a cock is caught, the hen loon finds ano¬ 
ther mate, the lofs of which is fupplied by a third, and fo 
on ; infomuch that the fucceffive leizure of three or four 
males has little effeCI on the multiplication of the brood. 
The hen difgorges the food for the young, as in the ca¬ 
naries ; and the cock affifts. He now ceafes to ling, and 
is totally abforbed in the concerns of his family: and - 
even during incubation, it is faid, he feldom lings very 
near the neft, left he ihould difeover it; but, if a perfon 
approaches it, his paternal folicitude drowns the fuggef- 
tions of prudence, and his ffirieks only increafe the dan¬ 
ger. In lefs than a fortnight the young are fledged, and 
at this time we ought to remove thofe intended to be 
trained. After they are flown, the parents make a fecond 
hatch, and then a third; but the laft fails if the cold fets 
in early. In hot countries, they breed four times annu¬ 
ally; but the late hatches are always fcanty. 
In the month of Auguft, both the old and young night¬ 
ingales emerge from the woods, and haunt the buihes, the 
quickfet-hedges, and the new-ploughed fields, where they 
find greater plenty of worms and infects. They are fpread 
generally throughout Europe, even to Sweden and Sibe¬ 
ria, where they fing delightfully ; but there are countries 
in Europe, as well as in Afia, which are not fuited to 
them, and where they never fix their abode: for inftance, 
in Bugey as far as the heights of Nantua; a part of Hol¬ 
land, Scotland, Ireland, the northern part of Wales, and 
northern part of England, according to Mr. Pennant, ex¬ 
cept Yorklhire. Mr. Pennant’s words are’thele : “ It is 
not 
