[3002] It was the nightingale that was said to be “Vox et præterea nihil;” “A voice, and nothing else.”
[3003] As there may be different opinions on the meaning of the various parts of this passage, it is as well to transcribe it for the benefit of the reader, the more especially as, contrary to his usual practice, Pliny is here in a particularly discursive mood. “Nunc continuo spiritu trahitur in longum, nunc variatur inflexo, nunc distinguitur conciso, copulatur intorto, promittitur revocato, infuscatur ex inopinato, interdum et secum ipse murmurat, plenus, gravis, acutus, creber, extentus; ubi visum est, vibrans, summus, medius, imus.”
[3004] 1227 francs, Ajasson says.
[3005] Something very similar to this, we often see practised by the water-warblers in our streets.
[3006] Cuvier supposes that this is one of the fly-catchers; the “Muscicapa atricapilla” of Linnæus, which changes in appearance entirely after the breeding season.
[3007] The “black-head.”
[3008] Cuvier thinks that this is the wall nightingale, the Motacilla phœnicurus of Linnæus, which is not seen in winter. On the other hand, the Motacilla rubecula of Linnæus, or red-throat, is only seen during the winter, and being like the other bird, may have been taken for it, and named “phœnicurus.”
[3009] This is not the case. Aristotle only says that it builds its nest of human ordure; a story probably without any foundation, but still prevalent among the French peasantry.
[3010] It has not been identified with precision. Pliny, B. xviii. c. 69 calls it a small bird. Some make it the popinjay; others, with more probability, the lapwing. Horace, B. iii. Ode 27, mentions it as the parra, a bird of ill omen.