88 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



and Mr. Gurney says,* " On the 31st of October 

 I saw a male Tithys Redstart in a small garden near 

 the beach at Minehead, where it remained sitting on 

 a low apple tree till driven awajr by another bird." 

 In the neighbouring county of Devon it is not quite 

 so rare a bird, especially on some of the rocks on 

 the south coast near Teignmouth, where I have 

 occasionally seen it in the months of October and 

 November. Most of the occurrences appear to have 

 been during the winter half-j^ear, from October to 

 March, which is a curious circumstance, as Yarrell 

 speaks of it as a common summer visitor to Ger- 

 many, France and Switzerland. It has much of the 

 lively manners of the Common Redstart, last men- 

 tioned ; but seems to prefer rocky situations to the 

 shrubberies, gardens and hedge-rows generally fre- 

 quented by that bird. 



The food of the Black Redstart consists of in- 

 sects, which it picks up from the sea-weed, when its 

 habitation is near the coast : it also eats other in- 

 sects in their various stages, worms, small fruit and 

 berries.! 



The nest is said to be placed in clefts in rocks, 

 holes in walls, and in the roofs of houses : it is 

 formed of grass, and lined with hair. J 



* The ' Zoologist' for 18(57 (Second Series, p. 1018). 

 f Yarrell, vol. i., p. 275. 

 t Id., p. 276. 



