BLUE-THROATED REDSTART. 123 



THE BLUE-THROATED REDSTART PHCENI- 



CURA SUECICA. Motacillo, suecica, Linn 



Sylvia suecica> Lath. Phcenicura suecica, Selby* 

 Blue-throated Redstart, and Blue-throated 

 Warbler of British authors. This interesting 

 bird claims to be a still rarer visitant than the 

 last, two instances only of its capture being re- 

 corded. The one on Newcastle Town muir,* 

 the other in Dorse tshire.j" On the Continent it 

 is generally diffused, but not abundantly, except 

 in a few localities. It migrates from the south 

 northward as far as Russia, Siberia, and the 

 northern parts of Sweden. 



According to Temminck,J there are two very 

 distinct varieties of this bird, he seems almost to 

 think species. In the centre of the blue throat, 

 there is in one a spot of silvery white, in the 

 other of rufous red, the last confined to the 

 north, and supposed to be the true S. suecica of 

 Linnaeus, the other found in the southern districts, 

 and for which, if proved distinct, he proposes 

 (following Meyer) the trivial name of cyanecula. 

 We cannot enter as we would wish into this sub- 

 ject, from the want of sufficient specimens of 

 each variety. It is possible that it may be depen- 

 dent on the age of the birds, and that the pure 

 colour, as in a few species, may not appear for 



* Synopsis of Newcastle Museum, p. 298. 

 t Naturalist, vol. ii. p. 275. Yarrell British Birds, i. 

 p. 234. 



t Supplement, i. p. 143. 



