102 A RARE VISITOR. 



the quivering motion of the tail peculiar to the Redstart ; 

 but very frequently jerks up the tail in the manner 

 of the Nightingale and Robin, and while singing, often 

 spreads it. It frequently rises on wing a considerable 

 height above the brushwood, singing, with the tail spread 

 like a fan, and alights often at a distance of fifty or sixty 

 yards from the spot where it rose. On approaching the 

 nest when it contains their young, their notes of alarm or 

 anger resemble those of the Nightingale's croak ; the wings 

 are then lowered, the tail spread and jerked up. The Blue- 

 throat commences his song with the first dawn of day, and 

 it may be heard in the evening when most of the feathered 

 tribes are silent. These birds are caught in autumn by 

 snares baited with berries. 



Wood calls this the Blue-throated Fantail, and ex- 

 presses surprise that it has been placed by almost every 

 writer in the same genus as the Redstarts and the Redbreast, 

 as it belongs most obviously to a different group, to the 

 Wagtail sub-family (MotacillincK). 



' The Blue-throated Warbler, or Blue-throated Robin,' 

 says Broderip, in his ' Zoological Recreations, 7 ' seldom 

 deigns to visit us, although it is numerous as a summer 

 visitor on the continent of Europe, where its beauty and 

 voice do not save it from the cook ; in Alsace, particularly, 

 it is considered a great delicacy, and numbers are immo- 

 lated for the table. It were to be wished that this elegant 

 and pleasing songster would visit us more frequently: and 

 as insects, earth-worms, and berries are its food, it seems 

 singular that it does not favour us with its company ; for 

 Russia and Siberia, as well as Spain, France, Holland, 

 Germany and Prussia, know it well.' 



