THE REDSTARTS 425 



Naumann states that the redstart never nests twice a year in the same 

 hole, but will in the following year nest again in either, and continue to 

 do so for many years. 1 Mr. Jourdain tells me that blackstarts' holes 

 may also be occupied year after year. 2 



A good many instances are on record in which redstart's eggs 

 have been found with those of other species in the same nest. 

 Among these are the blue-tit (Parus cceruleus), great-tit (P. major), 

 robin (Erithacus rubecula), and pied-flycatcher (Mwcicapa atricapilla). 

 This joint establishment seems to point to a kind of parasitism in 

 the case of the pair which does not build the nest, and is possibly 

 due, at least in the case of the Tits, to scarcity of nesting-holes ; but 

 it is singular that the pair in possession do not resist. Perhaps they 

 do and have to yield. Whatever be the beginning of the joint 

 undertaking, its ending is nearly always the ejection of the red- 

 starts. 3 



The alarm-notes of the redstart are a soft "ptui," resembling that 

 of the willow-wren and chiff-chaff, and a sharp "tick" not unlike a 

 similar note uttered by the robin, but less hard. In moments of 

 excitement the " ticks " are rapidly repeated. The notes of the black- 

 redstart are much the same, but, according to Naumann, higher 

 pitched and more strident. As in the case of its fellow-species, its 

 " ticks " become more frequent and rapid the more it has cause for 

 alarm. 



It will have been observed that both in their appearance, their 

 manner, and their notes, the redstarts have much in common with 

 the robin. It has, as we shall presently see, something also in 

 common with the species that forms the subject of the next section. 



1 Vogel Mitteleuropas, i. p. 64. 



2 C. G. Beauchamp notes, in the case of the blackstart, that "a second nest will be built 

 and eggs laid even while the first brood is still being fed " (Field, Nov. 5, 1910). 



3 See notes by P. C. R. Jourdain and H. R. Tutt in British Birds, iv. 77. 



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