REDSTART. 57 



the frequent movements of the tail made by this bird 

 were in a lateral, and not a vertical, direction ; this, 

 however, seems to be a mistake. Mr. Seebohm says 

 that "the tail is waved like a fan, and always vertically;" 

 and this I believe to be the case. 



The Redstart is sometimes, when a cage-bird on the 

 Continent, let loose to catch flies ; and there is a story 

 that one caught 600 in one hour, or about ten per 

 minute. Services of this kind would be at times much 

 prized in our own country. 



As the Redstart is " a bird of ruins and rocks," as well 

 as of orchards and gardens, its nest is frequently found 

 in holes in old walls, as at Powerscourt, as well as in 

 hollow trees ; and there the eggs, of a lightish, greenish- 

 blue colour, unspotted, and varying very much in 

 number, are deposited. Mr. Dixon has taken as many 

 as twelve from one nest, the bird continuing to lay as 

 egg after egg disappeared. 



The Black Redstart (Ruticilla tithys] is, according to 

 Mr. More, "a rare winter visitor, occurring chiefly on 

 the east and south coasts," and, of course, never breeding 

 in this country. Rev. Allan Ellison has kindly for- 

 warded to me a fine specimen of a male which he 

 shot at Shillelagh, County Wicklow, in December, 1885; 

 and Mr. J. Johnson has noticed it in Bray. 



This bird is remarkably plentiful on the banks of the 

 Rhine, and especially between Koln and Mainz. In 

 Switzerland the Black Redstart is called Rothel, and 

 may be seen about all the chalets. I have observed it 

 on the Great St. Bernard at a height of over 8,000 feet. 

 Its plumage is of a bluish-grey, the bill, cheeks, throat, 

 and breast, black ; tail, light chestnut red ; white patch 



