THE 

 ROCK-THRUSH. 



{Monticoln saxatilis.) 



Perching Birds. 75 



The eggs are olive-brown or bluish-green, clouded with reddish dots, and resemble 

 some of the eggs of the Nightingale. 



The Rock-Thrush [see p. 67) has a red tail like the Redstarts, 

 and the male and female are very different in colour, the male 

 being slaty-black, with the centre of the back white. The 

 head and throat are greyish-blue, with the rest of the under 

 surface of the body orange-chestnut. The female is ashy-brown mottled with pale 

 margins to the feathers, and the throat is white, mottled with dark brown edges ; 

 the breast and sides of the body are golden buff with dusky brown edges to 

 the feathers. It is a species of Central and Southern Europe, extending to Central 

 Asia and Mongolia and wintering in East 

 Africa and in North-western India. It has 

 been shot once in England, m Hertford- 

 shire, in May, 1843. It has a fine song 

 and resembles a Redstart in its ways, the 

 nest being placed in the hole of a rock or 

 wall, and is like that of a Chat or Redstart. 

 The eggs are four or five in number, of a 

 bright blue colour, with sometimes a few 

 brown specks. 



The red tail of 

 this bird makes it 

 rathera conspicuous 

 species, as the bird 

 has a way of flirting its tail up and down 

 and spreading it out. It is a summer 

 visitor to Great Britain, and breeds in all 

 three kingdoms. Its breeding-range ex- 

 tends throughout the greater part of 

 Europe, north to the Arctic Circle, and 

 east^to the Yenesei. It winters in West 



Africa as well as in North-east Africa and along the Persian Gulf. The male is 

 recognised by its slaty grey back, white forehead, black face and throat, and orange- 

 chestnut breast. The female is more of an ashy brown colour above, and has the 

 sides of the face brown, the throat dull white like the abdomen, the fore-neck, breast 

 and flanks sandy-brown, and the under wing-coverts and axillaries yellowish-buft". 

 The winter plumage is more grey, but the summer dress can be detected below the 

 grey margins of the winter plumage, for it is gained by the shedding of the latter, 

 as the grey becomes abraded and the edgings disappear as spring advances. The 

 young are spotted with ochreous-bult", and resemble the young of the Robin. 



The male Redstart is the first to arrive in its nesting-quarters, before the female, 



THE REDSTART. 



{Ruticilla 



phcvnicnrus.) 



The Redstart. 

 The Black Repstakt. 



