204 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



The name, from the Saxon, steor-t^ a tail, is signi- 

 ficant of the peculiar horizontal motion of this part 

 of the bird, which motion does not resemble that 

 of the wagtail, but, as a naturalist has observed, is 

 more like that of a dog. The young redstart is so 

 like a newly-fledged redbreast, that it would often 

 be mistaken for it, were not this vibration of the 

 tail so marked as at once to distinguish it. The 

 bird is in many country-places called Fire-tail, from 

 the bright red colour of its tail-feathers ; and in 

 some districts it is termed Bran-tail. The redstart 

 builds its nest very loosely: it is made chiefly of 

 moss and stalks of grasses, well lined with feathers, 

 intermixed sometimes with a little down, or hair. 

 The eggs are five or six in number, and of a fine 

 greenish blue. The places usually chosen for the 

 nest are holes in garden walls, ledges in out- 

 houses, and retreats among the dark green ivy. 

 But the redstart is one of those birds which occa- 

 sionally builds in some unusual spot. Thus, the 

 Rev. AV. T. Bree mentions a pair wliicli once 

 built under an inverted flower-pot, which had 

 been accidentally left on a gravel path. The 

 birds, of course, entered by the small drain-hole at 

 the top, and much wonder was excited as to how 



