REDSTART 



Ruticilla pkcenicurus 



HE Redstart is somewhat locally distributed throughout 

 the British Islands, but breeds regularly in all the counties 

 of England and Wales. In some parts of Scotland it is 

 fairly common, and breeds as far north as Caithness. In 

 Ireland its occurrence is said to be only accidental. 



The haunts of this brightly plumaged little bird are 

 somewhat varied. In orchards and gardens, and about 

 old walls, the Redstart flits about and sings its simple and somewhat 

 monotonous song; it is just as often seen in the plantations at the edges 

 of the moor, where the decayed stumps of trees are overgrown with masses 

 of blaeberry bushes, and fragments of rocks, hidden among the bracken, are 

 scattered about. In Scotland it is generally seen on some moss-clad 

 dry-stone dyke along the roadside, or among the pine forests, where there 

 are many convenient nooks and crannies in the dead trees for nesting-sites. 



The Redstart usually arrives in this country during the first week in 

 April, and, as is the case with most of our warblers, the males arrive first by 

 a few days. The migration is performed at night, so that the bird often 

 appears in numbers in some place where not one was seen the day before. 

 On its first arrival the Redstart frequents the tops of the trees, and is very 

 shy, rarely allowing a close approach ; but as soon as nest-building is fairly 

 started it becomes more confiding, and may be seen perched on some gate- 

 post, wall, or dead branch, waving its tail like some tiny red fan. These 

 peculiar tail motions are a striking habit of this species ; the tail is not jerked 

 up and down like that of a Fly-catcher or Wagtail, but is moved with a very 

 rapid, trembling motion, sometimes sideways and sometimes up and down. 



The food of the Redstart consists almost entirely of insects, and the bird 

 is an adept at catching insects on the wing, often securing several passing gnats 

 VOL. iv. H 29 



