BLUE-THROATED REDSTART. 303 



Remarks. — The bird which forms the subject of this article 

 is unquestionably more closely allied to the common or White- 

 fronted Redstart than to any other British bird. The wings 

 of the two species are so very similar, not only in form, but in 

 colour, that when separated one cannot distinguish them. The 

 tail is of the same length, and similar in form, as well as partly 

 even in colour. But the bill is more slender, and the tarsi are 

 much longer. The form of the head of the Common Redstart 

 is similar to that of the Wheatear and Pied Wagtail, and that 

 of the Blue-throated Redstart more resembles that of Motacilla 

 flava. The bill of the Ruticilla Cyanecula is narrower at 

 the base than that of the other species or of the Wagtails, and is 

 almost precisely the same as that of Anthus pratensis. Its feet 

 are proportionally longer than those of any of our Wagtails, or 

 of the other RuticilljB. Its affinity to the Wagtails is less, 

 however, than to the Sylvife and Chirpers, for its wings differ 

 essentially from those of the Anthin^, inasmuch as in the 

 latter the first quill is obsolete or minute, and some of the 

 secondaries extremely elongated, so as to give a peculiar charac- 

 ter to the wing. I cannot therefore agree with Mr Blyth in 

 considering the species which forms the subject of this article 

 as belonging " to the Wagtail subfamily." As to its claims 

 for generic distinction, I have only to say that its peculiarities 

 either of form or of habits do not seem to me sufficient to warrant 

 our separating it from the Redstarts. Mr Blyth thinks other- 

 wise, and gives reasons for his opinion : — " When first I saw the 

 Bluebreast alite., in Mr Rennie^s aviary at Lee, I was not a 

 little surprised to perceive that the bird which has been placed 

 by every writer in the same genus with the Redstarts and the 

 Robin Redbreast, belonged most obviously to a very different 

 group, to the Wagtail subfamily. Nothing can more strongly 

 shew the difficulty of arranging birds from mere cabinet speci- 

 mens, and the necessity of studying living nature, than this 

 placing of the Bluebreast in the genera Sylvia and Phoenicura. 

 I think I may confidently assert, that no naturalist who has 

 thus arranged it had ever seen the living bird. The tail of the 

 Bluebreast is partly red, but, with the exception of this very 

 trivial particular, there is no resemblance whatever between 



