THE NIGHTINGALE IN IRELAND [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Regarding " W. W.'s" query as to whether the nightingale is found in Ireland, that delightful writer, Katharine Tynan, evidently refers, in her poem, to the sedge warbler, which is described in Birds of Ireland, by Ussher and Warren, as the " Irish Nightingale."
This bird is also described as one of our commonest warblers, coming to this country during the summer months ; its notes may be heard by the sides of lakes and rivers, and are continued into the night. The bird is considered to be a mimic and is said to imitate the song of the blackbird, whitethroat, wagtail, titlarks and bunting and also the reed-bunting, which is so common on Irish lakes. It may well imitate the nightingale, which it may have heard in another country prior to its migration here : though Johns in British Birds in their Haunts states :—" And not content with babbling all day he extends his loquacity far into the night, hence he has been called the sedge nightingale, but with doubtful propriety, for, with all the will to vie with that prince of songsters, the zinzinare of the nightingale is far beyond his powers." Regarding the singing of the hen nightingale and the use of the word " her," I think " her " is occasionally a sexless term used by poets, and is not to be taken literally.—
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