36 . BLUETHROAT. 



spotted form ! The question of specific distinctness must remain 

 a matter of opinion. If segregated, the red-spotted bird is C. siiecica, 

 and the white-spotted one is C. leucocyana ; while the third, if 

 separated from the second, is C. wolfi. 



The Red-spotted Bluethroat has been recorded since 1826 at 

 irregular intervals ; mostly on the eastern and southern coasts of 

 P^ngland, at the spring, and especially at the autumn migration. 

 In September 1883, considerable numbers were observed on our 

 east coast, chiefly in Norfolk, where a much larger flock dropped in 

 the same month of 1884. Three are recorded from Scotland ; but 

 none as yet in Ireland. It breeds in the northern portions of 

 Scandinavia and Russia, the elevated Pamir region, and Siberia as 

 far as Kamschatka (whence it has straggled to Alaska) ; migrating 

 to China, India, Arabia and North-eastern Africa. From Egypt 

 westward the White-spotted Bluethroat appears, and predominates in 

 North-western Africa and South-western Europe ; breeding in France, 

 Belgium, Holland, and Northern Germany as far as the Vistula. 



The nest, similar to that of the Redbreast, is placed in the side of 

 a hummock among swampy thickets; the eggs, 5-6, laid about the 

 middle of June, are pale olive with minute rufous spots : measure- 

 ments 75 by "55 in. The food consists of insects — especially 

 mosquitoes — and their larvae ; earth-worms and small seeds. The 

 song, as heard during the nightless summer of the Arctic regions, 

 is described as rivalling that of the Nightingale in richness, ending 

 with a metallic ting ting. The cock bird is frequently bold and 

 conspicuous, while the female skulks among the undergrowth. In 

 its habits it resembles the Redbreast rather than the Redstart. 



Adult male : lores dark brown ; a white stripe above the eye ; 

 upper parts clove-brown ; bright bay tail-coverts and basal part of 

 tail-feathers, except the two central ones which are dark brown like 

 the lower half of the tail ; chin, throat and gorget ultramarine-blue, 

 with a large central spot of red bay ; below the blue successive 

 bands of black, white and bay ; remaining under parts buffish-white ; 

 wing-coverts and axillaries golden-buff; bill black; legs and feet 

 brown. Length 6 in. ; wing to ends of 3rd-4th and longest 

 primaries, 2*9 in. Female : differs in having the whole of the 

 under parts tawny-white, except a dark brown band across the 

 chest ; but old females show some blue and bay feathers there. 

 Young: like the female; the nestling streaked with black, similar 

 to a young Redbreast, but the base of the tail is bay. In autumn 

 the new feathers have grey tips which are shed by the following 

 spring. 



