Natural History of the NIGHTINGALE.
"The nightingale," ſays Pliny, "that for fifteen days and nights, hid in the thickeſt ſhades, continues her note without intermiſſion, deſerves our attention and wonder.—How ſurpriſing that ſo great a voice can reſide in ſo ſmall a body!—Such perſeverance in ſo minute an animal! With what a muſical propriety are the ſounds it produces modulated!—The note at one time drawn out into a long breath; now ſtealing off into a different cadence, now interrupted by a break, then changing into a new note by an unexpected tranſition; now ſeeming to renew the ſame ſtrain, then deceiving expectation! She ſometimes ſeems to murmur within herſelf; full deep, ſharp, ſwift, drawling, trembling; now at the top, the middle, and the bottom of the ſcale! In ſhort, in that little bill ſeems to reſide all the melody which man has vainly endeavoured to bring from a variety of muſical inſtruments. Some even ſeem to be poſſeſſed of a different ſong from the reſt, and contend with each other with great ardor. The bird overcome is then ſeen only to diſcontinue its ſong with its life[1]."
This bird is ſomewhat larger than a redſtart: in its plumage it reſembles the female of that ſpecies, but it is of a longer body, and more elegantly formed. The bill is ſharp-pointed, like that of the throſtle, about half an inch in length, and of a duſky colour; the inſide of the mouth is yellow, and the corners of the bill are alſo yellow,
- ↑ Pliny's Nat. Hiſt. Lib. X. Chap. 29.
