I 9 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



ON THE NESTING OF THE REDSTART (RUTI- 

 CILLA PHCENICURUS*} AND THE WILLOW 

 WREN (PHYLLOSCOPUS TROCHILUS) IN 

 SHETLAND IN THE SPRING OF 1901. 



By CHARLES A. STURROCK, F.R.C.S.E. 



MESSRS. EVANS AND BUCKLEY, in their " Vertebrate Fauna 

 of Shetland," state that Redstarts have gradually become 

 more numerous visitors to the Islands, especially in the 

 autumn, since March 1846 when one was shot until the 

 spring of 1898, when at the end of April and the beginning 

 of May they were singularly abundant in Dunrossness, 

 according to Mr T. Henderson. All observations hitherto 

 put on record make no allusion to the Redstart nesting or 

 breeding. The present notice may therefore be of interest, 

 and encourage some one to discover a complete nest another 

 year. 



I stayed at Spiggie in the spring of this year, from 4th 

 to 1 4th May, spending all the long days in bird-watching. 

 I had the good fortune on loth May to observe a Redstart, 

 with some building material in its beak, enter through an 

 aperture in the roof of one of the grist mills, nine of which 

 there are within a short distance of each other on the Mill 

 Burn. Having quickly closed the holes in the roof of the 

 mill which the Redstart had entered, I went inside quietly, 

 and caught the bird in the act of intertwining the various 

 items of moss, hay, grass, etc., which it had collected for 

 building purposes. The nest was little more than begun, 

 and I doubt if I should have known that a nest was in 

 process of construction, had I not seen the builder at work. 

 The bird worked for about a couple of minutes before 

 detecting me, when at once it made frantic efforts to escape, 

 trying first the hole, now closed, through which it had 

 entered, then fluttering against the small glass window. I 

 had no difficulty in gently catching it with my handkerchief, 

 but almost immediately I found it was dead. I had, there- 

 fore, the unexpected opportunity of having the specimen for 

 identification. Mr. Eagle Clarke, to whom I gave it, at 



