THE NATURAL HISTORY 
each caught rear twenty in*a morning : they re- 
forted to thofe parts of the foreft where the 
water was not dried up. 
Thofe who take them are very careful not to 
injure their feathers, left it Ibould delay their 
fong; for whilft they are moulting, they are al¬ 
ways filent. Sometimes to haften the time of 
their Tinging, the feathers are taken out of their 
tail, that the new ones may grow again the fooner. 
Nightingales are faid to be very nice food, 
when they are fat. 
In Gnfcony they arefometimes fattened for the 
table; fo wanton a deftrueftion of a bird whofe 
fong is fo melodious, recals the depraved, the 
cruel, and extravagant fancy of Heliogabulus, a 
Roman Emperor, who feafted on the tongues of 
Flamingoes, Peacocks, and Nightingales. 
The plumage of the Nightingale is not beau¬ 
tiful, the upper part of the body is of a reddilh 
brown ; the throat, breaft, and ftomach of a 
whitilh grey. Nightingales that are bred in the 
fouthern countries, have a darker plumage ; and 
thofe bred in northern countries a lighter plu¬ 
mage. 
The tongue of the Nightingale is very re¬ 
markable, the end is furnilhed with threads, and 
feems as though it had been cut off. 
6 But 
