THE REDSTARTS 



1657 



Redstarts 



Exclusively confined to Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia north of 

 the Himalayas, the redstarts (Ruticilla) are characterized by the short, 

 slender, black beak, and finely developed rictal bristles, and the black and smooth 

 legs; while most of them have the rump and tail red. In Europe the genus has half 

 a dozen representatives. Among the prettiest of the summer migrants to Northern 

 and Central Europe is the graceful and attractive bird popularly known as the fire- 

 tail, or common redstart {R. phcenicurus} , partial to parks and gardens, and on its 

 first arrival often perching on the lower branches of large trees; the male possessing 

 a very charming song. The redstart commonly builds in a hole in a wall, or the 



REDBREAST AND REDSTART. 



(One-half natural size.) 



interior of some hollow tree, or upon a shelf in some outhouse, and we once found 

 an open nest of this species placed in the top of a thick bush. The eggs are pale 

 blue, sometimes slightly speckled with red; while the young are easily reared from 

 the nest by hand, and are rather liable to sport a few white feathers in the first 

 plumage. Foraging among dead leaves for insects, they spend more time upon the 

 ground than the young of any of the allied forms. Often rearing two broods of 

 young during the course of the summer, the redstart in its flight is swift and elegant. 

 Although the male birds generally sing from the branches of trees (unlike the male 



