THE BLACK REDSTART. 99 



BLACK REDSTART. 



THE BLACK-BREASTED REDSTART (Ruticilla tithys), some- 

 times called the Black Redstart, or Redtail, or the Tithys 

 Warbler. The form and size of this bird is very like the 

 other species of Redstarts ; the upper parts of its plumage 

 are greyish blue ; the rump and tail-coverts red ; the 

 throat and breast black, with margin of grey to the feathers. 

 But few individuals have been met with in this country. 

 Continental authors describe it as rare in the northern parts 

 of Europe, but common in the southern. It haunts stony 

 places and bare pastures, feeding on insects, larvae, worms, 

 and berries ; nestles in fissures in the rocks, holes in the 

 walls, or among stones ; builds its nest of dry grass, and 

 lines it with hair, and lays five or six eggs, which are white 

 and glossy. 



At a meeting of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, Dr. Barry read the following paper : 



At the railway station in Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt, in May, 

 1852, it was found that a bird had built its nest on the collision 

 spring of a third-class carriage, which had remained for some time 

 out of use. The bird was the Black Redstart, and the nest con- 

 tained five eggs. The discovery was made by the superintendent of 

 luggage vans, Jacob Stephani, who humanely desired his men to 



