9 8



G. A. M.



me into Inverness-shire three years ago, where he misliked the

hyperborean conditions. He invariably ducked at the many

Gulls (A. ridibundus) that sailed close past the windows, and

felt the July cold so much that he sat on the fender, and uplifted

each wing in turn towards the fire, to warm his flanks. His

present autumn splendour baffles all description, for, on the fore

body, each light feather has a darker tip, and each dark feather a

lighter rim, and many have two crescent bars of differing shades.

The Italian name Codirossone (Rig Redstart) is good descrip¬

tion of its general appearance and quivering tail-plav. One of the

German names, Steinrotel, endorses this. They are charming

chamber birds, wayward, and a trifle tempersome, like all the

Thrushes, and sing the year round. When feeling comfortable

and well, they let their feathers hang very loose until they swell

into round balls of puff. My old stager always snatches tit bits

with a scold, and bolts them quite angrily, but only from those

persons he knows. He keeps his pecks for them, too, so possibly

they are a sign of affection. Last year he somehow cut two toes

whilst at large in my room. They would have healed, had he

allowed them, but he was so enraged by the pain and weakened

grip that he was continually pecking at them, until they came

off. One of my hens was fearlessness embodied, and allowed

herself to be picked up anywheie, but she eventually became so

crippled from what seemed a rheumatic affection of the legs,

that I had her killed ; and rats ate an irreplaceable pair, which

I had turned into an aviary in hopes of increase. At Stresa, last

spring, I repeatedly observed a pair hunting earthworms, which

they carried off a long way, to the boulders on a steep hillside.

Here they are not rare in the mountains in summer, but we have

none by the coast.


The Blue Rock-Thrush {Monticola saxaiilis ) is pretty com¬

mon, and I have seen its nest in old walls. A beautiful hen of

mine nested in an aviary and laid four Starling-like eggs, but

did not sit. Her mate, my war-thrush, has tyrannized this house¬

hold for five years, and is a known character hereabouts for the

murderous onslaughts he makes on every human male who

enters into his aviary or room. His conduct is uniformly con¬

sistent. Civil to me as the governor, the first sound of any



