274 BRITISH BIRDS. 



times she attains by age some of his blue and chestnut markings. After 

 the autumn moult the bright plumage is partially hidden by broad margins 

 to the feathers, which, however, are cast in the spring. Males of the year 

 resemble females; and young in nestling plumage have all the small 

 feathers nearly black with buffish centres, palest and most prominent 

 on the belly. 



The European Bluethroat (Erithacus cyaneculus] is the Southern and 

 Western representative of the Arctic Bluethroat. It has been included 

 in the British list, but on far too slender evidence ; and although I have 

 figured the egg of this bird, for the sake of comparison, its claims as a 

 British species must remain in abeyance until more satisfactory evidence 

 is forthcoming. A bird alleged to be of this species was seen in the Isle 

 of Wight (Zoologist, 1866, p. 172) ; but the evidence is unsatisfactory 

 and meagre. Another specimen is said to have been picked up dead 

 under the telegraph-wires at Seamer, near Scarborough (Zoologist, 1876, 

 p. 4956) ; as, however, this specimen was a female, and as the adult 

 females of the two species are very often the same in plumage, and 

 immature females are apparently always undistinguishable, it is impossible 

 to recognise the bird as an undoubted European Bluethroat. The third and 

 last recorded instance of the bird's capture in Great Britain was announced 

 by my friend Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown in the 'Zoologist' for 1881, p. 451. 

 This specimen was obtained from the Isle of May on the 24th of September 

 of that year. I have seen this example ; it is a bird of the year, and there 

 is not a shadow of evidence to indicate to which species it belongs. 



The European Bluethroat breeds in Central and Western Europe, 

 but becomes rarer during the breeding-season as we trace it eastwards. 

 It is said to pass through Turkestan and Northern Cashmere on migration, 

 and to have been occasionally obtained in India and Persia ; but I have 

 never seen an Asiatic skin, and doubt its occurrence in Asia. Great 

 doubt attaches to the specimens of this bird obtained so far to the east- 

 wards as Persia and India ; and it is possible that immature birds of the 

 Arctic species have been mistaken for them. The greater number of these 

 birds pass through South Europe on migration, and winter in Palestine 

 and North Africa. 



In its habits and mode of nesting, and in its song and call-notes, the 

 European Bluethroat resembles its Arctic ally. Like that bird it is a lover 

 of swampy places, fond of concealment, and creeps in a silent mouse-like 

 manner through the bushes and undergrowth ; and its food, so far as I can 

 determine, is also similar. Its nest is placed similarly to that of the pre- 

 ceding species on the ground under the shelter of a tussock, or at the foot 

 of a small bush ; and the materials which compose it are much the same. 

 The eggs of this bird present much the same types, and possess similar 

 variations to those of its northern congener. 



