Nightingale

The anguish and ecstasy of love - a symbolism based on the beauty of the song poured forth by the nightingale cock during its spring mating season.  The "immortal Bird" of Keats' Ode to a Nightingale (1819) is a metaphor for both singers and poets.  Its song has often been linked with pain as well as joy, as in the horrific Greek myth of Philomela whose tongue was cut out in order that she would not reveal that her brother-in-law Tereus had raped her; she was turned into a nightingale by the pitying gods.  Usually a good omen, the nightingale was variously said to sing of love, loss, yearning for paradise or, in Japan, holy writ. From: Dictionary of Symbols (Tresidder)

For a thousand years the nightingale has been the most celebrated songbird in the western world. In French troubadour lyrics, Romantic poems, even wartime propaganda, its oratorical song has symbolized both the renewing powers of nature and human love.   From The Book of Nightingales

Common name for two Eurasian songbirds. The common nightingale and the thrush nightingale are both about 15 cm (about 6 in) long. They are brown on top and grayish-white underneath. The thrush nightingale's tail is lighter brown, and its breast is slightly mottled with gray. The males of both species have exquisite songs. They inhabit dense, damp thickets and woodland undergrowth. Both species migrate to Africa for the winter.  From Encarta Online Concise

  Songs referenced: 

Song for Eric