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behaved fairly well, excepting that whenever the male wished

to feed he objected to his wife sharing the meal, and invariably

drove her away. This, being a not infrequent failing among

savages, I did not consider a dangerous symptom ; and therefore

looked forward hopefully to a more amicable state of things at the

approach of spring, and to the prospect of breeding this pretty

species in captivity.


Alas ! when the (unusually wintry) spring of this year

ought to have arrived, the male bird was anxious to enter the

estate of matrimony ; but the female was by no means prepared

for so early a wooing, and fled in terror from her boisterous lover.

Being more swift of wing, the male bird always succeeded before

long in capturing his coy charmer, whom he hammered over the

head in the most brutal manner ; so that, one day, I discovered

the unfortunate bird in a corner with all the feathers torn from

her scalp : she was so dazed, that I picked her up without

trouble ; and, after anointing her head with vaseline, put her by

herself in a flight-cage, gave her two or three mealworms, and

some fresh food. In an hour she seemed much better, and, for

about a week, I hoped that she would yet be all right before

May ; in which case, I might still have a chance of breeding

with her ; but one morning I came down to find her dead.


Now, although the cock Redstart ought to have known

that his brutal treatment of the hen bird was the cause of her

disappearance ; I had no sooner removed her, than he began to

bemoan her loss,—“ wheet-tit, wheet-tit ” all day long; as he

wandered restlessly about, evidently searching for her in all

parts of the aviary ; and this he did, day after day, for several

weeks ; after which he resumed his song, and seemed reconciled

to his bachelor condition.


This experience, I think, tends to show that the sexes of

the Redstart ought to be kept apart, until the arrival of the

natural breeding season ; when, in all probability, they would

soon make friends : it also suggests the likelihood of two

male Redstarts fighting as fiercely as two male Robins, if kept

together in the same enclosure.


How long Redstarts live when at liberty, I don’t know ; but

repeated observations upon the Robins which build in my garden,

or my son’s, year after year, has convinced me that three years

see the beginning and end of their existence as breeders. Each

cock Robin has some peculiarity in its song, which, to one who

hears it daily, stamps its individuality; it is thus easy to

recognise a new singer, in place of the old.



