PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 341 



it is found in crevices of the rocks and occasionally in old swallows' nests, but 

 hardly ever in trees. It is rather bulky, and is composed of moss, stalks, dry 

 grass, neatly lined with finer grasses, hair and feathers. It is built by both sexes, 

 chiefly by the female (C. G. Beauchamp, Field, Nov. 5, 1910). The eggs, 4 to 6, 

 sometimes 7 in number, are, as a rule, white, without markings, but exceptional 

 instances have been recorded of pale blue eggs and also clutches which showed 

 traces of red spots. Average size of 82 eggs, '76 x -56 in. [19'4 x 14'37 mm.] 

 Full clutches are not, as a rule, found before the beginning of May in Central 

 Europe. The incubation period lasts about 13-14 days and is performed by the 

 hen, or chiefly by the hen, if Naumann is correct in stating that the cock relieves 

 her each day for about two hours. Two broods are generally reared. [F. c. R. J.] 

 5. Food. Chiefly insects and their larvae, also spiders, worms, berries. 

 [F. B. K.] 



REDSPOTTED-BLUETHROAT [Cyanecula svecica gcetkei 

 (Kleinschmidt). (7. suecica (L.). French, gorge-bleue ; German, rotster- 

 niges Blaukehlchen], 



I. Description. This species may be distinguished from the redstarts in 

 having the red on the tail confined to the basal half. (PI. 44.) The male in 

 nuptial dress can be recognised at once by the cerulean blue of the throat, set off 

 by a patch of chestnut red, and bounded posteriorly by a double band of black and 

 chestnut red, the latter of variable width. Occasionally a narrow band of white 

 is interspersed between the black and red bands. The upper parts are of a greyish 

 brown, the lores black, and the superciliary stripe white. The breast, abdomen, 

 and under tail-coverts are white, and the flanks are tinged with buff. The tail, 

 from the base to the middle, is of a deep chestnut red, except the two middle 

 feathers, which are dark brown throughout. After the autumn moult the 

 colours of the blue gorget and its bands are obscured, the feathers being tipped 

 with white. The female differs from the male, having the throat white, bounded 

 posteriorly by a semicircular band of dusky, white-tipped feathers, behind which 

 runs a more or less distinct band of pale chestnut. The breast and abdomen are 

 white, the flanks and under tail-coverts buff. Very old females sometimes develop 

 a more or less distinct blue gorget like that of the male. In the juvenile, or fledgling 

 plumage, the upper parts are of a very dark brown, almost black, relieved by pale 

 brown striations, very narrow on the crown, broad on the back, but passing into 

 mottlings on the rump. The upper tail-coverts are rust-coloured. The wings 



