302 RUTICILLA CYANECULA. 



Female. — The female has the upper parts as in the male, 

 but with the red of the tail less bright, and the dark band more 

 brown. The throat is white, with a curved band of blue hav- 

 ing black spots intermixed. The rest of the fore-neck and 

 upper part of breast pale orange-brown ; the remaining parts 

 brownish- white. 



Variations. — Individuals vary considerably in colour, the 

 tints being more or less bright, and the red patch between the 

 ultramarine bands on the fore-neck in some white. 



Habits. — This very beautiful bird has hitherto occurred in 

 Britain only in two instances. In May 1826 an individual 

 was shot on the hedge bounding the Town Moor of Newcastle, 

 and is now in the museum of the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of that city. Another is stated in the Naturalist, Vol. 

 II, p. 275, by Mr Dale, to have been killed in Dorsetshire, 

 and to be preserved in the museum of Mr R. A. Cox. The 

 species is said to be not uncommon in various parts of the con- 

 tinent during summer and autumn, and to extend from Spain 

 and Italy to Siberia, Russia, Finland, and the north of Sweden. 

 It feeds on insects, worms, and small fruits. Its song is re- 

 presented as lively and pleasantly modulated, sometimes per- 

 formed when the bird is on the wing, and often heard in the 

 dusk, or in the early part of the night. It frequents low moist 

 places, covered with grass, willows, or other shrubs, among 

 which it places its nest, which is composed of withered stems 

 and leaves, the lining being of finer materials of the same 

 nature. The eggs, five or six in number, are nine-twelfths of 

 an inch long, five and a half twelfths broad, greenish-blue, 

 without spots. The nest, in its position and texture, resembles 

 those of the Pipits and Chirpers ; but the eggs are similar to 

 those of the common Redstart and Hedge Chanter. 



Young. — The young are said by M. Temminck to have the 

 plumage brown, spotted with whitish, and to have a large 

 white space on the throat. 



