468 PERCHING BIRDS 



in the bluethroat the bristles at the gape of the beak are few and small, 

 whereas in the redbreast they are strongly developed. 



The bright ultramarine-blue of the throat and breast, bordered with 

 bands of black, white, and chestnut, and bearing in the centre a large 

 patch of the latter colour, affords an unmistakable means of recognising 

 the male bluethroat. As regards the rest of the plumage in the same 

 sex, a large extent of the upper-parts is clear brown, but the head is 

 marked on each side by a white stripe running from the base of the 

 beak backwards above and behind the eye, and the upper tail-coverts, 

 together with the bases of all the tail-feathers except the middle pair, 

 are bright chestnut, while the remainder of the tail, inclusive of the 

 two middle-feathers, is dark brown : exclusive of the blue area, the 

 under-parts are white with a buffish tinge. In addition to the absence 

 of the blue on the throat and breast, the female differs in having the 

 under-parts creamy white with a dark brown band across the chest ; 

 it is noteworthy, however, that in old age birds of this sex show a 

 tendency to develop the blue and chestnut breastplate of their partners. 

 Young birds are like their female parents. 



Breeding in the high north, this bluethroat (for there is more than 

 one representative of the group) ranges in summer over the greater 

 part of central and northern Europe and temperate and arctic Asia, 

 while in winter it visits India, China, Burma, and north-cast Africa. 



During the nineteenth century- twenty-one instances of the occur- 

 rence of bluethroats in or close to the British Isles were recorded. It 

 is true one of these is doubtful, but this is compensated for by the 

 fact that in one of these cases there were two, and in a second several 

 specimens. All but one of the instances occurred on either the spring 

 or the autumn migration, and the majority took place in the southern 

 and eastern counties of England. One of the specimens was, however, 

 taken at sea off Aberdeen in 1872, and a second on one of the islands 

 of the Outer Hebrides in 1888. There is no rceord of a bluethroat 

 in Ireland. In addition to the above, a bluethroat was taken at 

 Eastbourne in 1903, and a second near London in the following }ear. 

 There is no reasonable doubt that the great majority of these specimens 

 are referable to the present species, which is called by one author the 

 Indian, and by another the Arctic bluethroat. 



A bluethroat which frequented the neighbourhood of Ventnor from 

 1865 to 1867 is described, however, as presenting the characteristic 

 colouring of the white-spotted species {Cynnecula wolfi, C. leNcocyanea, 

 or C. cyatiecula), in which the central spot in the blue chest-patch of 

 the cocks is white instead of chestnut. This species inhabits central 



