RED-SPOTTED BLUETHROAT 311 



by a dark breast band and stripes at the sides, with some dark spots, 

 and may have some indication of a red center spot. There is a good 

 deal of individual variation and the young birds in the fall are much 

 like the adults, but distinguished as described under "Plumages." 

 The underparts other than the bib are whitish. 



Enemies. — No special data are available on this subject, but the 

 secretive habits of the bluethroat probably protect it to a considerable 

 extent from birds of prey. 



Fall and winter. — As very little is recorded about the eastern form of 

 bluethroat on its fall migration we must again rely largely on observa- 

 tions in the west, and although the precise conditions under which they 

 were made are obviously not reproduced exactly in Asia, nevertheless 

 they will serve to give some idea of the habits of bluethroats at this 

 season. In Great* Britain the species is hardly ever met with inland 

 but is a regular passage migrant on parts of the east coast and still 

 more upon certain islands. It also occurs in numbers in the German 

 island of Helgoland. On migration it may be found skulking among 

 Suaeda bushes or other scrub or rank vegetation on coastal sand dunes, 

 or it may even frequent cliffs. Where there is some cultivation, as on 

 Helgoland and on Fair Island, its British counterpart, it has a special 

 liking for potato and root fields, where it gets most of its food hopping 

 about under or close to the shelter of the protecting leaves and is 

 difficult to flush. It is also much attracted by gardens, where these 

 exist, and here if it is not disturbed it may become very confiding, for 

 it is secretive and wary rather than shy. Gatke (1895), the famous 

 ornithologist of Helgoland, writes: "If during one's garden occupations 

 one pays no special attention to the bird, or pretends not to notice it, 

 it will for hours long hop around near one, at twenty, fifteen, or even a 

 less number of paces off. * * * If, however, it becomes aware of 

 being watched, it vanishes swift as lightning, in long bounds, under 

 some shrubs or among some bushes." Gatke adds, however, that on 

 the fall migration it frequents the potato fields exclusively and never 

 comes into the gardens, which form its chief resort in spring. But 

 this, like some of his other statements, is somewhat too sweeping and 

 dogmatic, for I have myself watched bluethroats in Helgoland gardens 

 in fall. 



In their winter quarters bluethroats are solitary in habits and retain 

 that attachment to cover near water and in swampy places that is 

 observable on the breeding ground. They are found in such places 

 as the outskirts of reed beds and canebrakes, the borders of lakes or 

 streams or of irrigation channels among crops, as well as, where they 

 occur, in suitable hedgerows, gardens, and other cultivation. R. E. 

 Moreau (1928) states that occasional snatches of song may be heard 



