34 



BLACK REDSTART. 



sometimes with a faint tinge of blue, and occasionally speckled with 

 brown : average measurements 75 by "58 in. Two broods are often 

 produced in the season. The male commences his rich song very 

 early in the morning ; and from his familiar habits the Black Red- 

 start is one of the most conspicuous species on the Continent, 

 as, jerking his tail, he flits along the roofs in large cities, or the sides 

 of ravines in the country. Even in London one frequented the 

 grounds of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, from 

 November 1885 until the snow-fall of January 6th 1886. Refuse- 

 heaps and sea-tangle seem to have great attractions for this bird. Its 

 food consists principally of insects, caterpillars, and, on our sea- 

 coasts, of small crustaceans. 



Adult male : frontal band and lores black ; crown, nape and back 

 dark slate-grey ; wings brownish, with broad white margins to the 

 secondaries forming a conspicuous white patch ; rump and tail, 

 except the two brown central-feathers, bright bay ; chin, throat, 

 cheeks and breast black, passing into grey on the belly; vent buff; 

 bill, legs and feet black. In younger males the wing-patch is less 

 pronounced. After the autumn moult the black feathers of the 

 under parts have grey margins, which so soon wear off that I have 

 seen old males in splendid black plumage by the end of November. 

 Length 575 in.; wing to the tip of the 4th and longest primary, 

 3-4 in. 



Female : greyer on both upper and lower parts than the female 

 Common Redstart, and her axillaries and under wing-coverts are 

 grey instead of buff. The young resemble the female. Young 

 males often breed in their immature grey plumage ; and owing 

 to this a supposed distinct species, since withdrawn, was described 

 by Gerbe under the name of R. cairli. The full black plumage is 

 not attained by the male until the second autumnal moult, and even 

 then the intensity of the colour is considerably modified by the long 

 grey margins of tlie feathers. 



