Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/94

Rh longest; the tarsi rather long, the feet being formed for walking and hopping as well as for perching. The genus is properly European, extending, however, into the western countries of Asia, and into the north of Africa.

The common Nightingale (Philomela luscinia, ), so renowned for its song, even since the



time of Homer, is of very plain and unobtrusive plumage. The upper parts are yellowish-brown, tinged with reddish on the crown, as well as on the rump and tail; the under parts greyish-white, purest on the middle of the belly; the beak and feet pale brown.

Though on the continent the Nightingale visits