266 SYLVIAS. 



it frequents towns or villages, it chooses holes in walls, 

 roofs of houses, and sometimes, according to M. Vieillot, 

 the elevated parts of churches. The nest is formed exter- 

 nally of grass, and lined with hair : the eggs are five or six 

 in number, ten lines in length by seven lines in breadth, 

 white, smooth, and shining. The female frequently has 

 two broods in the season. The song of the male, according 

 to Bechstein, " contains a few high, clear notes, which may 

 be heard from an early hour in the morning till night. 

 The bird is always gay and active, shaking its tail at every 

 hop, and continually uttering its peculiar call-note." 



In the adult male, the beak is black, the irides blackish 

 brown ; the top of the head, neck, and back, dark bluish 

 grey : wing-coverts and quill-feathers greyish black ; the 

 coverts edged with lighter grey ; the secondaries and tertials 

 on the outer edges almost white : rump and tail-coverts 

 chestnut ; tail-feathers bright chestnut, except the two 

 middle feathers, which are very dark brown, almost black. 

 The cheeks, chin, throat, breast, and sides, dark sooty 

 grey, becoming slate-grey on the belly, and still lighter on 

 the vent and under tail-coverts, which are tinged with red ; 

 under wing-coverts dull greyish white ; under surface of 

 the primaries lead-grey ; under surface of tail-feathers 

 chestnut ; legs, toes, and claws, black. 



The whole length of the bird is five inches and three- 

 quarters. From the carpal joint to the end of the longest 

 quill-feather three inches and three-eighths : the first quill- 

 feather very short ; the second and the seventh nearly 

 equal in length ; the third rather longer than the sixth ; the 

 fourth and fifth equal, and the longest in the wing. 



The female of this species is not very unlike the female 

 of the Common Redstart, but is generally somewhat darker. 

 The upper parts are of a dull brownish grey, the tertials 



