MO T ACILLA. 
77 
O’er Philomela’s pity-pleading (trains. 
My friend, and my friend’s filter! we have learnt 
A different lore : we may not thus profane 
Nature’s fweet voices always full of love 
Andjoyance! ’Tis the merry nightingale 
That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates, 
With ftjt thick warble, his delicious notes, 
As he were fearful that an April night 
Would be too (hort for him to utter forth 
His love-chant, and diffiurthen his full foul 
Of all its muiic ! 
The plumage of this bird is mtic'll inferior to its fong. 
All the upper part of the body is brown, more or le(s 
rufty;- the throat, bread, and belly, are afh-colour; the 
inferior coverts of the tail and wings are of a ferrugi¬ 
nous caft in the males, the quills of the wings of a 
browniffi grey verging on rufous, and the tail of a deep 
tawny rufous; the bill is brown; irides hazel; and its 
eyes remarkably large, lucid, and piercing; legs brown, 
with a (hade of flefh-colour; the ground colour of the 
feathers is deep cinereous. It has been alleged, that the 
nightingales bred in the fouthern climates have a darker 
plumage, and thofe railed in the northern countries a 
whiter. The young cocks are alfo faid to be paler than 
young hens; and in general the colour of the young ones 
is the mod variable before moulting, that is, before the 
end of July; and it is then fo like that of the redftart, 
that it would be difficult to diftinguiffi them, unlefs by 
the difference of their chirping. Total length, fix inches 
and a quarter: the bill, eight lines, yellow within, and 
having a large opening; the edges of the uppe.r mandible 
fcalloped near the point; the outer toe conne&ed to the 
middle one at its bafe; the nails (lender, the hind one the 
ftrongeft; the alar extent, nine inches; the tail thirty 
lines, confifting of twelve quills, and exceeding the wings 
fixteen lines. The tip of the tongue is furniffied with 
threads, and truncated, which was known to the ancients ; 
and feems to have given rife to the fable of Philomela, 
v.hofe tongue was cut off. 
There are two other varieties of this bird, allowed to 
be equally melodious in their fong, viz. 
( 3 . M. lufeinia major, the greater nightingale, men¬ 
tioned by authors as being confiderably larger than the 
Other, and, according to Frifch, lings rather better. The 
plumage is faid to be rufous and a(h-colour mixed. This 
author alfo fpeaks of a third, faid to be frrtaller than the 
other two, whofe fong is only in proportion to its fize. 
Thefe are met with chiefly in Silefia. 
y. M. lulcinia alba, the white nightingale : fize of the 
common fpecies, but wholly white. Others have been 
known with the head, neck, wings, and tail, white; the 
red of the plumage pale brown and white, mixed. 
2. Motacilla coryphaeus, the African nightingale. This 
fpecies is fo named by Vaillant as being qualified to dif- 
pute the palm of melody with the nightingale of Europe, 
which moreover it much refembles in (hape, fize, and 
graceful motions. Its mode of finging is not fo, (hriU 
and fo varied ; but it is more equally continued, con- 
fequently more mellow and affefting. The expreffion of 
the European coryphaeus is more lively and animated; 
that of Africa more tender and voluptuous: the fong of* 
the former fpeaks more perhaps to the ear, of the latter 
to the heart. In (hort, the nightingale is a mailer, who, 
by the efforts of art, execution of voice, and the difficulty 
of the fong, feems to force applaufe; whilg the coryphajus, 
ffiy the fimplicify and mild harmony of his notes, appears 
only to awaken fenfibility: in a word, the one expreffes 
enjoyment, the other the mild fentiment which leads to 
it. Like the common nightingale, the male only of this 
fpecies is endowed with a delightful voice, and the feafon 
of love is the only time they ling, beginning an hour or 
two before the rifing and fetting of the fun. When the 
weather is calm and ferene, their fong continues the 
greateft part of the night; and after a mild rain., when 
Voi. XVI. No. 1094. 
the fky is cloudy but not ftonny, they may be heard 
all day. 
Nature, in beftowing upon this bird a fafeinating voice, 
has denied it brilliancy of colour. Nothing can be more 
plain and fimple than its plumage, which is the fame in 
all feafons; but at the fame time its (hape is elegant, and 
its motions graceful. Its large brown eyes and white 
eyebrows, (haded by a fpot between them and the noftrils, 
form an agreeable and lively phyfiognomy. The upper 
furface of the body and tail are of a dull brown ; the 
lateral tail-quills are brown-grey at their origin, blackifli 
farther on and within, and white at the tips; the front, 
of the neck is blue-grey, with a patch of white on the 
throat; the reft of the under furface, i. e. the bread, 
flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts, is reddilh-brown. 
The bill, legs, feet, and nails, are blackifli; tail tapering. 
See the annexed Plate, fig. 1. The female (fig. a.) is 
fomewhat (mailer than the male; her upper plumage is 
lighter; the under parts are entirely of that blue-grey 
which in the male appears only on the neck: in other 
refpedls they are perfectly fimilar. 
They pair in October; and at that time the male is in 
full fong. In November they feek out a retired and 
fecure place, at the foot of a thick bulb ; there they make 
their neft of grafs and mofs, fecured and lined with hair. 
As foon as the neft is finilhed, the female lays an egg each 
day till they amount to five at the mod, or three at the 
lead; they are of a pale greenifli-blue, but inclining to 
greeni(h-brown at the large end. In fome of the nefts, 
Vaillant obferved the egg of the crefted cuckoo had been 
dropped; this egg was entirely white, and twice the fize 
of the nightingale’s egg. .While the female fits, the 
male perches on a neighbouring tree, or on a buffi, and 
fings for hours together. 
The African nightingale has the fame attitudes and 
geftures with the European fort, and that ftrange kind 
of curiofity wdiich draws him towards mankind. He has 
alfo thofe motions of the tail which are underftood by 
the generic term motacilla. The coryphseus feeds on 
infefls, worms, ant-eggs, and all forts of berries. It in¬ 
habits the mimofa-woods from the Camdeboo to the river 
Sondag and Swart-kop; their fong enlivens this wild 
barren land, when the cool evening fucceeds the heat of 
the burning fun. Vaillant fays they were attradled in 
great numbers by the fire he lighted up in the night. He 
took a complete neft, but was not fuccefsful in rearing 
them; yet he thinks they might be preferved if treated 
in the manner our bird-fanciers ufe in rearing nightin¬ 
gales and linnets; and their fong would well repay the 
pains. 
3. Motacilla calidris, the hang-neft warbler: fize of a 
robin; bill blackifli; the under mandible fleffi-colour; 
upper parts of the plumage greenifli brown, paled towards 
the rump; all but the two middle tail-feathers are rufous 
within; fides of the head and under parts of the body 
reddiffi orange; through each eye a dulky line, and a 
fecond beneath the eye, pointing downwards; the wing- 
coverts have yellowiffi edges, and mod of the quills are 
rufous on the inner webs ; legs blackilh. Native of 
Jamaica. It makes a very curious peniile neft, compofed 
chiefly of the herb called Tragopogon, or old man’s beard. 
4. Motacilla Bonarienfis, the Buenos-Ayres warbler: 
fize of a linnet; bill blackifli; irides chelhut; upper part 
of the head, back, wings, and tail, a full black; throat, 
fore part of the neck, and fides of the body, ferruginous ; 
between the bill and eyes white; chin, middle of the 
belly, and outer tail-feathers, white; hind claw large. 
Native of Buenos-Ayres. 
5. Motacilla palmorum, the palm warbler: length five 
inches: bill (harp-pointed; irides pale brown. The plu¬ 
mage on the upper parts brown, deeped on the head; 
rump and upper tail-coverts olive green ; wings and tail 
brown, with paler edges ; the two outer feathers have a 
baud of white on the inner web, near the tip; under parts 
X! o t 
