Nightingale: Have you seen this bird?
The nightingale is sovereign of song.
An Edmund Spenser quotation
Nightingale
The Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), also known as Rufous and Common Nightingale, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae.
Nightingales are named such because they often sing at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for well over 10 centuries. It means ‘night songstress’.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 15–16.5 cm (5.9–6.5 in)
• Color: plain brown, white below
• Tail color: Reddish
• Sex: both are similar
The Nightingale is slightly larger than the European Robin, at length. It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south-west Asia. It nests on the ground within or next to dense bushes. The nightingales winter in southern Africa.
Early writers assumed the female sang; but in fact, it is the male. The male nightingale is known for his singing, to the extent that human singers are sometimes admiringly referred to as nightingales.
The nightingale is sovereign of song.
An Edmund Spenser quotation
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The nightingale is sovereign of song.
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