COMMON REDBREAST WHEATEAR. 41 



The delightful melody of this " last lone songster of the 

 fading year" possesses another claim to our notice. 



Singing in all seasons, it is one of the first to commence its 

 matin song, and at intervals continuing during the day, it 

 again prolongs it into midnight. But it is only when " sweet 

 sounds are rare" when the warm days of summer have 

 passed, and the falling foliage of autumn leaves the branches 

 bare and leafless, that we hear the strange, plaintive song of 

 the redbreast, which, from its depth of sorrow, appears to 

 bewail the approaching desolation. So sad its song, that in 

 Germany, it is stated, prisoners have died from grief within 

 their dungeons from hearing the thrilling sensations of lone- 

 liness conveyed in the song of the redbreast. 



Its song also appeals to our feelings, partly superstitiously, 

 partly religiously, as we have never seen the graveyard no 

 matter how retired, or how long disused but we find the 

 same mourner always there, as if singing a requiem for the 

 departed dead. 



When visiting the ruins of Monasterboice some years 

 since, a feeling of unutterable sadness, occasioned by the 

 song of a pair of redbreasts, pervaded our entire party. 



Yet, melancholy as its song is, it does not soften the hearts 

 of the Italian bird-venders, as Mr. Waterton remarks in his 

 agreeable work : " Having seen fifty redbreasts exposed for 

 sale near the Rotundo at Rome, ' Is it possible,' said I, c that 

 you can kill and eat these pretty songsters?' c Ay,' replied 

 the fellow, with a grin, c and if you take a dozen of them 

 home for your dinner to-day, you will come back for two 

 dozen to-morrow.' " 



Indigenous. 



GENUS XIX. SAXICOLA (STONECHAT). 



SPECIES 38 THE WHEATEAR. 



Saxicola cenanthe. Linn. 

 Traquet moteux. Temm. 



Stonechat. 



THIS lively and interesting summer visitant is one of those 

 birds which uniformly attract our attention by their cleanly 

 disposed plumage, and activity and gracefulness of their 

 movements. Usually arriving about April, it takes its de- 

 parture towards the end of August ; and during its sojourn 

 with us, it is found scattered in pairs along the sea-shore, 



