33 



REDSTART. 

 Ruticilla phoenicurus 



Regular summer visitant, somewhat locally and thinly distributed. 

 Great numbers observed in autumn passing southward on migration. 



This bird's earliest association with Yorkshire history 

 is contained in Marmaduke Tunstall's MS., 1783, thus : 

 " Redstart, pretty common here [Wy cliff e-on-Tees]. I never 

 could get any to live in a cage for any time, though I have 

 tried both old and young." (Fox's " Synopsis," p. 72.) 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote as follows : 



Ph&nicurus ruticilla. Redstart Appears to be general, though 

 much fewer in numbers than in the South of England. 



This is decidedly one of the most beautiful of the summer 

 migrants which visit our shores ; its boldly marked plumage 

 and red tail render it a conspicuous object as it darts out 

 in front of the intruder on its domains, whisking along and 

 flirting its tail as if in defiance. 



The middle of April is the usual time for its arrival in 

 this county, at Hovingham it has been noted as early as the 

 6th, while in Cleveland it may be expected about the 22nd 

 of the month ; and the time of its departure is stated to be 

 the 20th September. The Redstart is generally distributed, 

 though as a rule only in small numbers, or scattered pairs, 

 where suitable localities are existing, such as the banks of 

 country lanes, gardens, orchards, the edges of large woods, 

 ivy-clad ruins, and dry stone walls on the borders of moorlands. 

 Though a constant and characteristic bird in the dales of the 

 north and north-west, it is usually absent from the barren 

 and desolate tracts ; it is frequent in Craven, Nidderdale, 

 ascending to an elevation of 1000 feet ; and to 1150 feet 

 at Buckden in Wharfedale ; Swaledale ; Wensleydale ; Rye- 

 dale, and Teesdale, where it is found to 800 feet elevation, 

 and is not uncommon in the Plain of Ycrk, and in the fir 



VOL. I. D 



