SAXICOLINJE. RUTICILLA. 139 



derate length and width ; cceca very small, oblong. Eyes of 

 moderate size. Nostrils very small, elliptical, pervious, in 

 the fore part of the large nasal membrane, which is ante- 

 riorly bare. Head ovate, rather flattened anteriorly ; neck 

 short; body compact, rather slender. Legs of moderate 

 length, slender ; tarsus very much compressed, anteriorly with 

 a long plate and three inferior scutella ; toes rather long, 

 very slender, much compressed, the two lateral nearly equal, 

 the first stouter ; claws rather long, moderately arched, very 

 slender, extremely compressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plu- 

 mage very soft and blended ; wings rather long, broad, al- 

 most straight, with eighteen quills, the first very small, the 

 second considerably shorter than the third, which is longest, 

 but scarcely exceeds the fourth ; tail rather long, straight, 

 nearly even. 



The Redstarts, which have the bill shorter than that of the 

 Stonechats, and more slender than that of the Bushchats, are 

 intermediate in form between the Motacillae, Saxicolae, and 

 Sylviae. Their food is composed of insects, which they ge- 

 nerally catch on wing, of larvae, pupae, and berries. Only 

 one species is of common occurrence in Britain, but two others 

 have been met with there. 



74. RUTICILLA CYANECULA. BLUE-THROATED REDSTART. 



Male with the upper parts wood-brown, the fore neck and 

 breast with patches of ultramarine blue and light red ; tail 

 light red, toward the end brownish-black ; breast and abdomen 

 whitish, sides and lower wing and tail coverts pale reddish- 

 yellow. Female with the upper parts as in the male, the 

 throat white, with a curved band of blue, having black spots 

 intermixed. Young brown, spotted with whitish, and having 

 a large white space on the throat. In place of the light red 

 on the throat, the adults sometimes have white. 



Male, 5jf, . ., 3-J, 5^, 1 T V, T 8 g , A- 



An individual was shot near Newcastle, in May 1826, and 

 another in Dorsetshire. The species is said to be not uncom- 

 mon in various parts of the Continent, extending from Spain 

 and Italy to Siberia, Russia, Finland, and the north of Sweden. 



Blue-throated "Warbler. 



Motacilla suecica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 336. Sylvia suecica, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ormth. i. 216. Ruticilla Cyanecula, Blue- 

 throated Redstart, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 300. 



