400 THE BLUEBREAST. 



brown ; the feet flesh-coloured ; the claws blackish ; the shanks 

 fourteen lines high. The head, back, and wing- coverts, are 

 greyish brown, mottled with a deeper shade of the same colour ; 

 a reddish white line passes over each eye ; the cheeks are dark 

 brown, spotted with rust colour, and bordered at the sides with 

 dark grey. The throat, and half way down the breast, are 

 dark azure blue, with a shining white spot, about the size of 

 a pea, but which seems to increase or diminish when the bird 

 is singing. Beneath the blue is a blackish stripe, which is 

 again bounded by an orange streak. The belly is dingy white; 

 the vent yellowish ; the shanks and sides reddish grey. The 

 pen feathers are dark brown, and the tail feathers rusty red 

 near the root, and broadly tipped with black, while the two 

 centre ones are entirely dark brown. Some males have in 

 addition two, or occasionally even three, small pearly- white 

 spots on the throat, while others have none. The latter seem 

 to be very old birds, as I have remarked that in them the blue 

 throat is of darker colour, and that the orange stripe is almost 

 brownish red. 



The difference in the plumage of the female is very notice- 

 able. In young birds there is only a blue tinge at the sides of 

 the throat, which afterwards changes to two long stripes of 

 the same colour. The transverse orange stripe on the breast 

 is also wanting; the throat is yellowish white, with a longitu- 

 dinal black stripe on each side ; and the feet are flesh-coloured. 



Habitat. The Bluebreast is a native of all parts of Europe. 

 It is a bird of passage, leaving us for the more northern regions, 

 where it breeds, at the beginning of April. About this time, 

 especially in case of cold and snowy weather, it may be seen 

 in considerable numbers on the banks of streams and canals, 

 in the hedges of marshy meadows, or in farm-yards. Such as 

 stop with us during the summer, pass that season in mountain- 

 ous districts, which are well supplied with water; and in 

 August the whole tribe returns, and may be seen in the cabbage 

 gardens, . 



This bird may either be allowed the full range of the aviary, 

 where it pleases by its engaging and rapid motions, as well as 

 by its great tameness, or, for the sake of its song, may be kept 

 in a cage. A Nightingale's cage is the fittest form, as in this, 

 it is not so apt to dirty and destroy its beautiful plumage. In 

 any case, it soon loses its tail feathers. 



