REDBREAST— REDSTART— HEDGE-SPARRO W 119 



In its habits the redbreast resembles the nightingale and the thrush, and 



like these, has spotted young. It is, however, much more lively, and moves about 



more briskly, on its rather long legs, often raising its tail and drooping its wings, 



and bowing continually. Its flight, though never long-continued in the daytime, is 



swift and straight. With other small birds the redbreast is very quarrelsome, as 



it is with members of its own kind, especially when one male meets another, 



although its cheery, trilling song, would hardly lead one to expect this. Even the 



females sing, although very softly, in a gentle, twittering sort of way, till late in 



the evening, for the redbreast is one of the last birds to go to roost and one 



of the earliest of risers. 



tart ^e re dstart, redtail, or firetail (Ruticilla phcenicurus), ranges 



over the whole of Europe as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far 



east as the Yenesei and Persia. Taking its name from the bright chestnut colour 



of its tail, which has two dark brown middle feathers, the redstart has the dark 



wing-feathers edged with light brown, while the axillaries are nearly of the same 



chestnut hue as the tail ; the male birds having a black throat and red breast, and 



the females being grey above and buff beneath, with the breast sandy brown. In 



Africa the colours of this bird are brighter. The redstart is almost always found 



where there are trees, not only in the depths of a forest, but in villages, fields, 



gardens, and on river-banks. In Switzerland, however, even when trees are near, 



it seems to prefer living amongst rocks. On migration, it flies at night, and 



appears in its breeding-haunts from about the end of March to the middle of April, 



or even sometimes later, seemingly in no way particular as to where it builds its 



nest ; though it generally selects situations not raised much above the ground. The 



eggs are laid in May or June. Redstarts are restless birds, continually on the move, 



jerking and fanning their tail about, and hopping and bobbing and bowing as if 



they could never keep still. They live on insects, flying and otherwise ; the young, 



which often betray the whereabouts of the nest by their loud screams, being fed 



mostly on caterpillars. The song, which is heard in the morning and evening, 



consists of about four bars, now and then interrupted by whistling notes or 



snatches of the songs of other birds; and it has many admirers. 



_ . „ The familiar hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis), which belongs 



Hedge-Sparrow. & r \ /> a 



to a different group, is found all over Europe so far north as Norway 

 and Archangel. It is resident throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, in 

 Germany and France, as well as southern Europe ; and during migration, which 

 in autumn lasts from the middle of September till October, and in spring from the 

 middle of March till April, it visits Arabia and north-east Africa. In Asia Minor 

 and Palestine it is said to be found all through the year. Although living in the 

 open air, the hedge-sparrow does not expose itself to view more than it can help ; 

 and it is by no means exclusively a forest-bird. In the Hebrides it builds on the 

 open moor; in many districts it lives amongst gardens and in the vicinity of 

 houses, the nest being placed low down in thick bushes or evergreen shrubs, and 

 the eggs laid about the end of April or beginning of May and in June. The 

 beautiful blue colour of the eggs is familiar to all ; and the nest itself is a model 

 of neatness, being chiefly made of green moss, harmonising well with the 

 newly unfolded leaves among which it is usually situated. During much of the 



