BLACK REDSTART. 295 
few stunted bushes which defy the blasts of the western gales from the 
Bay of Biscay. 
The food of the Black Redstart is chiefly composed of insects, caterpillars, 
and occasionally small garden fruits. 
According to Naumann the Black Redstart arrives in South Germany early 
in March, and in North Germany during the latter half of the same month, 
the autumn migration taking place throughout the month of October. It 
breeds early in May. On the 5th of May last I saw two nests, each contain- 
ing eggs, in a summer-house in the garden of Dr. Blasius at Brunswick. In 
a shed in the farmyard of Oberamtman Nehrkorn, at Riddagshausen, two 
miles in the country, several nests were finished and ready for eggs; and 
on the 14th we took a nest with five eggs. On the 18th a fresh nest had 
been made in the same place, and one egg had been laid. The nest of 
the Black Redstart resembles that of the Robin, being a very large loose 
structure outside, and inside extremely round and neat. This nest 
measured 9 inches in diameter, and was 3 inches high, principally com- 
posed of straw and stalks of plants, with a few twigs and a little moss, 
some roots, cobwebs, and the flowers of the reed, and a little dried grass. 
The nest-cavity was not in the centre, and was 27 inches in diameter and 
12 inches deep, very carefully lined with horsehair, and with half a dozen 
feathers neatly interwoven. Onthe 6th of May 1873 I took a nest of this 
bird with four eggs in a recess on the moss-covered walls some yards within 
the entrance of the celebrated cave in the Parnassus. It was composed 
principally of green moss lined with goat’s hair. Holes in walls and 
ruins are also favourite situations for the nest. Curious situations are 
_ sometimes chosen by this bird in which to build. At Bonn Dr. Sclater 
and I found one built on a shelf in a compartment of one of the large 
Rhine bathing-machines, after having watched the bird fly through the 
window. It is said seldom or never to build in hollow trees. Sachse 
says that two broods are always reared in a season. The alarm-note of 
the Black Redstart is very similar to that of the Robin, a loud rapid ¢ek- 
tek-tek-tek. 
_ The usual number of eggs is five ; sometimes only four are laid; and six, 
and even seven have been recorded. The colour is usually pure white ; 
but sometimes there is the faintest tinge of brown, and a clutch in my 
collection from Altenkirchen shows the faintest possible tinge of bluish 
green. Dresser describes a clutch, also from Altenkirchen, which were 
minutely spotted with brown at the large end. The eggs are very finely 
grained, and the surface polished. In length they vary from °83 to ‘7 inch, 
and from ‘6 to 56 inch in breadth. 
The adult male Black Redstart is a very handsome bird, the general 
colour being slate-grey, with brown wings margined with white on the 
outside webs of the secondaries; the two centre tail-feathers are also 
