286 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Adult Female. Different from the male, being ashy-brown 

 above instead of slaty-grey ; the orange-chestnut colour of the 

 rump and tail paler ; lores dull white ; ear-coverts earthy- 

 brown ; cheeks ashy-brown ; throat dull white, as also the 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts ; the fore-neck, breast, and 

 sides of body sandy-brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 yellowish-buff ; quills dusky brown below, ochreous along the 

 inner web. Total length, 5-3 inches; wing, 3-1. 



Young. Mottled like a young Robin, and having the upper 

 surface varied with ochreous-buff spots and black edges to the 

 feathers ; the under surface yellowish-buff, barred with dusky 

 edges to the feathers ; the upper tail-coverts and tail orange- 

 rufous, as in the adults. 



Winter Plumage. The whole of the upper surface grey, 

 as well as the throat, the black and white facial markings 

 being concealed by pale margins which wear off and leave the 

 summer plumage visible. 



Range in Great Britain. A summer visitor to all the British 

 Islands, though it is only quite recently that it has been known 

 to breed in Ireland, where it was before considered to be a rare 

 bird. Its breeding-range extends throughout England and 

 Scotland, but the bird is rarer in the south-western counties, and, 

 like the Nightingale, its range seems to be almost bounded by 

 the River Exe, though the Redstart has been found breeding in 

 Cornwall on rare occasions. It has also been known to breed 

 of recent years in Sutherlandshire and Caithness, but is un- 

 recorded from the Hebrides, and is only a rare visitor to the 

 Orkneys and Shetland Isles. 



Range outside the British Islands. Breeds throughout Central 

 and Southern Europe as far as the Arctic Circle, and east to 

 the Yenesei. In the south of Europe it is principally known 

 as a migrant, and breeds only on the mountains. In Greece, 

 Asia Minor, and the Caucasus the Redstart is represented by 

 an allied species, Ruticilla mesoleuca, which has white on the 

 wing like the Black Redstart. Our species winters in Persia 

 and Palestine, and it extends in Africa to Abyssinia and the 

 eastern districts, as well as to Senegambia on the west coast. 



Habits. On their first arrival the males precede the females 



