428 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



has a song-flight. He will carol as he flies upward, and then, with 

 wings and tail outspread, with glints of many colours, like a jewelled 

 elf, still singing, he will descend. Those who have seen this flight 

 have compared it to that of the tree-pipit, the resemblance being 

 further increased by the fact that the bluethroat will end the perform- 

 ance by alighting on the topmost twig of some bush. Where bushes 

 are absent he contents himself no doubt with a mossy hummock. 1 

 According to Bailly, the white-spotted form has the same song-flight ; 

 it mounts upwards almost vertically from some bush, singing, and 

 then drops back on to its perch, sometimes with a "pirouette." 2 

 The redstart also sings as he flies, but he cannot be said to have a set 

 song-flight. In this the bluethroats appear to surpass all the members 

 of their sub-family. 



The notes of both the bluethroats are said to resemble those of 

 the redstart ; they utter both a soft "ptui " and the sharper " tack " or 

 "teck," 3 



Of their love displays we have fairly detailed information. Those 

 of the red-spotted form have been described by Mr. O. V. Aplin, 

 who witnessed it in the north of Norway, the snow being still upon 

 the ground : " Presently the male of the pair sang in an ecstasy 

 for his plain-coloured mate, which, I could see, was creeping and 

 hopping about among the growth of Arctic birch close to where 

 he settled, and he was performing like a robin. His head and neck 

 were stretched up, and his bill pointed nearly upwards ; his tail 

 was flirted up and down, or held at less than a right angle with 

 his body, and his wings were drooped. So he sang until she moved 

 away, and he dashed after her." 4 



The displays of the white-spotted form may be seen in its more 

 accessible breeding haunts in Central and Southern Europe. It 

 sings with drooping wings, at first softly, then with increasing force, 



1 Ornithologie de la Savoie, p. 272 ; Zoologist, (1896, p. 426 (O. V. Aplin) ; Ibis, 1801, p. 82 

 (P. and F. Godman). 2 Ornithologie dc la Savoie, ii. p. 805. 



3 Zander, Vogel Mecklenburgs, pp. 243-8 ; Bailly, Ornithologie de la Saroie, ii. p. 307. 



4 Zoologist, 1896, p. 426. 



