14 BIEDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



GENUS RUTICILLA. 



EEDSTAET. 



RuTiciLLA PHCENicuRus (Liiinseus). 



Local Name — Red-tail. 



A summer migrant, almost universally distributed, 

 but nowhere very common. It arrives very regularly 

 about the second or third week in April — the males 

 generally being seen a few days before the females 

 come — and leaves the latter half of September. It is 

 seen on migration in all parts of the county, and there 

 are few districts without a pair or two breeding, but Mr. 

 C. E. Eeade says that it is very rare at Urmston, and 

 near Clitheroe and Whalley, where it is probably as 

 common as anywhere, its numbers are much fewer than 

 they used to be. It often lays as many as seven or 

 eight eggs, and shows a great preference for the vicinity 

 of farm-buildings, breeding in the orchards and old 

 walls. Its alarm-note is very similar to that of the 

 Chaffinch, but the " chat," with which the Eedstart 

 concludes, always serves to distinguish it. 



BLACK EEDSTAET. 



EUTICILLA TITYS (ScOpoli). 



A winter visitor, appearing very rarely. Mr. John 

 Plant reports one shot near Middleton (J. Harrop), and 

 Byerley (" Fauna of Liverpool," 1856) also notes one 

 having been killed near the Dingle in the winter 



