BLUETHROAT ROBIN NIGHTINGALE. 9 



BED SPOTTED BLUETHKOAT (Cyanecula suecica). 



A chance visitor on autumn and spring migrations. Chiefly 

 observed in the East and South. Distinct on account of its 

 white eye-stripe and cobalt gorget banded with black, white, 

 and chestnut. 



REDBREAST OK ROBIN (Erithacus rubecula). 



Resident, and everywhere abundant, except in the extreme 

 North. 



Haunts. Essentially a bird of. the garden, and only quits 

 the society of mankind during the autumn moult. 



Plumage. Upper parts olive-brown. Forehead, lores, chin, 

 throat, and breast red edged with grey. Belly white. Bill 

 black. Legs brown. Length of in. Female, similar but 

 duller. Young, feathers above and below spotted with buff and 

 tipped with black. 



Language. Song, most cheerful and pleasing and familiar 

 to all. Note of anxiety, " lit-it-it-it," sounding somewhat 

 metallic. Call-note, a short kind of squeak. 



Habits. Eminently of a confiding and also extremely 

 pugnacious nature. On the ground it takes long hops, 

 punctuated every now and then by a curious stoop of the head, 

 a flick of the wings, and a jerk of the tail. Flight undulating 

 and never sustained for long. 



Food. Insects and their larvae, spiders, small worms, soft 

 fruits, berries and seeds, and crumbs and scraps in winter. 



Nest. March onwards. Several broods. 



Site. A variety of places. Usually in hole in wall, in grass 

 bank, in cleft in tree, amongst ivy, &c. 



Materials. Dry grass, skeleton leaves, rootlets, and moss, 

 lined with finer grass, hair, and sometimes feathers. Some- 

 what untidy, and not unlike the Nightingale's. 



Eggs. Four to six. Pinky white (pinkiness disappears after 

 blowing), spotted and freckled with pale reddish brown. 

 Variable. 



NIGHTINGALE (Daulias luscinia). 



Migrant ; April to September. Extremely local, but occur- 

 ring in nearly all counties. Very rare in the North and some 

 parts of the West. Unknown in Ireland. 



Haunts. Thickets in copses, woods, plantations, and shrub- 

 beries in gardens. 



Observation. In appearance like a large Robin without 

 ruddy breast. 



Plumage. Upper parts russet brown. Tail tinged with 

 chestnut. Breast grey, under parts bumsh grey ; flanks pale 



