14 THE REDSTART 
into the belief that they are better worth caring for than their 
young ones, and may be caught if we will only be silly enough to 
chase them ? I do not know; but whatever their thoughts may 
be, we certainly are in them, and as certainly they are not delighted 
at our presence. We walk on, and suddenly they are gone; but 
presently we encounter another pair of the same birds, who if 
we loiter about will treat us in exactly the same way, but, if we 
pass on steadily, will take little notice of us. 
We have little more to say of the Stonechat. It is not often 
heard to sing ; the reason probably being that, when listeners are 
in the way, it is too anxious about its nest to be musical. Its 
food is principally insects, which it often catches on the wing. 
In winter (for they do not all leave us at this season) it feeds on 
worms, etc. Its nest is remarkable more from its size and position 
(usually in the centre of a furze-bush), than for neatness of structure. 
It lays five eggs. Its name Rubicola denotes a dweller among 
brambles, and is by no means inappropriate, as it rarely perches 
on any bush exceeding a bramble in size. Its names Stonechat, 
Stoneclink or Stonechatter,are evidently to be traced to the similarity 
between its note of alarm and the striking together of two pebbles. 
THE REDSTART 
RUTICILLA PHG@NICURA 
Forehead white ; throat black ; head and upper part of the back bluish grey } 
breast, tail-coverts and tail (except the two central feathers, which are 
brown), bright rust-red ; second primary equal to the sixth. Female— 
upper party grey, tinged with red; larger wing-coverts edged with 
yellowish red ; throat and abdomen whitish ; breast, flanks, and under 
tail-coverts, pale red. Length, five inches and a quarter. Eggs uniform 
blue. 
ALTHOUGH of no great size this summer visitor is pretty sure to 
attract attention by its peculiar colouring ; its red tail and white 
crown being sufficient to distinguish it from every other British 
bird. It is familiar, too, inits habits, commonly resorting to gardens, 
and searching for its favourite food, worms and insects, on the 
lawn, and in orchards. It is local rather than rare, for while there 
are some places to which it regularly resorts every year, there are 
others in which it is never seen. Redstarts arrive in this country 
about the end of ApriJ, and soon set about the work of building 
their nest. This they generally place in a hole in a wall or hollow 
of a tree, but sometimes by the mossy stump or amongst the exposed 
roots of atree. Occasionally they select a quaint domicile, a garden 
pot, for example, left bottom upwards, or a sea-kale bed. A still 
stranger instance is that of a pair of Redstarts, who, themselves or 
their descendants, were for twenty years located in the box of a wooden 
pump. On one occasion, the pump being out of order, the owner 
