S. Suecica, Lath. Temm. Motacilla Sztecica, Lin. Ste. Blue-throated Warbler. Rust-coloured ; breast striped with blue ; tail feathers brown, and rusty towards the base. Nearly the size of the preceding, with which many of its Itabits also coincide. Instead of living in the heart of the woods, like the red-breast, this species affects their out skirts, and haunts marshes, moist meadows, and places that abound with willows and reeds. After passing the summer months in its sequestered retreats, it visits gar dens, orchards, avenues, and hedges, previous to its de parture to southern latitudes. Towards the close of sum mer, it often alights in fields sown with the larger sorts of grain. Frisch notices its partiality to pease fields, and even alleges that it breeds in them ; but its nest is at least more commonly found among willows and osiers, and such bushes as grow in wet situations, and not unfrequently on the dwarf birch. It is composed of dried grass, matted together, and lined with soft materials, on which are de posited five or six greenish-blue eggs. In the amorous season, the male ascends to some little height in the air, chanting as he rises, and then whirls round, and drops back on his bough. His song is also heard in the night. As it constantly varies, and is, for the most part, an imita tion of almost every note within the hearing of the bird, the Laplanders designate the latter by an expression which means a hundred tongues ; and Acerbi hesitates not to prefer its music for a room to that of the nightingale, be ing less strong and shrill. It occurs from Sweden to the Pyrenees, but not in this island; nor is it so frequent on the continent of Europe as the red-breast, though it may be traced in the lower parts of the Vosges, in Germany and Prussia, and even in Siberia. When plump, it is caught in the noose, and much esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh.
S. ph.enicurzzs, Lath. Tern. Illotacilla phcrnicurus, Lin. Ste. Red Start, or Red Start Warbler, l'rov. Red Tail, or Brown Tail. Head' and back hoary; throat black ; belly and tail red. The ordinary length of the bird is five inches three lines, and its alar extent eight inches. It is migratory, visiting most of the countries of Europe in spring, and returning in autumn. The French call it Rossignol de Mitraille ; but its song has neither the ex tent nor variety of that of the nightingale, although it partakes of the same modulations, blended with an air of tenderness and melancholy. It pours forth its notes from towers, deserted buildings, the top of a May-pole, &c. Though found in the heart of forests, and of shy disposi tions, it also haunts peopled districts, and is sometimes seen in towns. It flies nimbly, and, when it perches. gives a feeble cry, incessantly quivering its tail in a horizontal direction, and as if by a convulsive motion. It breeds both in the town and in the country, in walls, crags of rocks, on the top of a cottage, or in holes of trees. The nest is composed of moss, with a lining of hair and feathers, and contains from four to eight eggs, of a light blue colour, and in other respects resembling those of the hedge spar row, except that they are rather more elongated at the smaller end. While the process of incubation lasts, the male chants from some neighbouring eminence ; and its music is softest at day-break. In some mountainous dis tricts, its matin song summons the shepherd and labourer from their repose. In this island, it is rarely observed farther to the north than Yorkshire, or farther west than Exeter. In the wild state it feeds on insects. If taken in the mature state, it either refuses sustenance, and pines to death, or is sullen, silent, and intractable ; but the nest lings may be reared in a cage, and require to be treated as nightingales.
S. sialis, Lath. Motacilla sialis, Lin. &c. Oenanthe sialis, Vieill. Blue Warbler, Blue Bird, Elue Red-breast, or Blue-backed Red-breast. Blue above, red and white beneath ; length five inches ten lines. The blue warbler shuns forests and thick copse woods, occurring in open districts, cultivated fields, and orchards. It seizes with
address the winged insect that flutters within its reach, and darts with surprising velocity on such as alight on the grass, or as run along beaten tracks, or on ploughed fields, seeking its prey on the ground. It appears in flocks in Carolina and in Virginia very early in spring, and moves southward in autumn, its known range reaching from New York to the Bermuda Islands. It nestles in the holes of a tree or wall ; and, although it has only a slight plaintive note, the inhabitants, who are partial to its melody, fix boxes to their houses, in which it may breed. In default of insects, it approaches farm-houses, to pick up grass seeds, or any thing else that it can swallow.
S. C'alliope, Lath. Motacilla Calliope, Gmel. Kaznts chatka Thrush, or Rubu-throated Warbler. Rusty-brown above, yellowish-white beneath ; throat vermilion, bor dered with black and white ; lora black, and eye-brows white. Inhabits the eastern provinces of Siberia and Kamtschatka ; is fond of perching on high trees; is an ex cellent songster, and warbles during the night.
S. lascinia, Lath. Tem. illotacilla luscinia, Lin. Ste. .17ghtingale, or Xightingale Warbler. Red-grey above, cinereous-white beneath ; tail brownish-red.
Both male and female occasionally vary in size ; but there is no marked disproportion between them. Diffe rent varieties of the species, among which one entirely white is noted, have been particularized by ornithologists ; but these we are unwilling to enumerate and define, both for want of room, and because we have reason to believe that they have been somewhat needlessly multiplied. Even the three alleged races of country, mountain, and aquatic nightingales, appear, to M. Vicillot, gratuitous. The name of nightingale has been, moreover, improperly ap plied to several species of foreign birds. remarkable for their tuneful notes. That now under consideration, is limited to the old continent, and ranges over Europe, from Italy and Spain to Sweden ; occurring likewise in Siberia, Kamtschatka, China, and Japan; but it betrays local pre ferences which are not easily explained, being met with, for example, in higher latitudes and colder countries than Scotland, whilst it is, nevertheless, a stranger to the latter, to a large portion of the north of England, and to Ireland. In England, it seems not to have advanced farther north than Yorkshire, nor farther west than the eastern borders of Devonshire, whereas, it is plentiful both in Somerset shire and Dorsetshire. Though unknown in Lincolnshire, it has been heard on the confines of that county, near Pe terborough. In a large district of Bugey, in France, in most of Holland, &c. it is equally an alien. Some of the territories which it disdains to visit, are, doubtless, defi cient in wood and inclosures, to which it is partial; and they may, possibly, be less abundantly provided with some of the favourite insects on which it feeds. In Europe, the nightingale is migratory, arriving in spring, and de parting in autumn, sooner or later, according to the tem perature of the latitude. They are said not to travel in flocks, but singly ; yet, as their numbers increase on the southern shores of Europe, previous to their departure, it is probable that, notwithstanding their natural shyness, they may unite for the common defence. It was long ge nerally supposed, that they repaired to Asia for their win ter residence ; but Sonnini has distinctly traced them to Africa, particularly to Egypt. This learned traveller re cognised them, in winter, in the fresh and smiling plains of the Delta, and witnessed their passage to the islands of the Archipelago. He likewise remarks, that they are common in winter, in some parts of Asia Minor, as in Natolia, where they pass the season in the forests and groves, but undistinguished by their song ; which, in their free condition, is appropriate to the period of breeding.