Accentors, Bush Chats, and Redstarts 679 



hole in a wall, but usually in a crevice in a rocky cliff, often near a waterfall. The 

 four or five eggs are light blue or greenish blue. 



Accentors. The position of the Accentors, which constitute the next sub- 

 family (AccentoritHE), has been much in dispute, some placing them among the 

 Warblers, others with the Tits, Sparrows, and Bluebirds. They are small, 

 dark-plumaged birds, with a short, rather weak, sharp-pointed bill, but few 

 and weak rictal bristles, weak wings, and a nearly square or slightly forked tail. 

 Most of them frequent high mountains in summer, often up to the snow line, but 

 coming down to the valleys in winter, while others, such as the common and 

 familiar Hedge Sparrow (Accentor modularis] of Europe, inhabit gardens and 

 cultivated spots, where they hop about in the hedges and low shrubbery. Their 

 food consists principally of insects, varied, it is said, with occasional seeds, and 

 their nests, which are usually composed of mosses and grass, lined with hair or 

 wool, are placed in hedges, low bushes, or in holes in rocks; the eggs are blue. 

 The twenty species which are sometimes referred to two genera are found mainly 

 in Europe and northern Asia, or wholly within the Palaearctic area. 



The Bush Chats (Ephthianura) of Australia, although regarded by Dr. 

 Sharpe as a subfamily of Thrush-like birds, would seem to be best placed else- 

 where, being sprightly, active, Sparrow-like birds, going about in small or some- 

 times very large flocks, and frequenting low scrub and waste land, especially near 

 water, as well as the dryest deserts of the interior. They are usually observed 

 on the ground or in low growth, and the bright-colored males have the habit of 

 perching on the summit of a stone or the extremity of a dead branch ; they are 

 said to have but a single plaintive note which is uttered while on the wing or 

 when the nest is threatened. They often nest near each other, building a cup- 

 shaped structure usually in a bush a few inches above the ground. But four and 

 a half inches long, the male of the White-fronted Bush Chat (E. albifrons] of 

 East and South Australia is light gray above with a tuft of white-tipped plumes 

 on the sides of the rump, while the forehead, face, throat, and all the under sur- 

 face are pure white, the breast crossed by a broad crescent of black ; the female 

 is grayish brown above and buffy white below, with a slight crescent of black 

 on the breast. The Tricolored Bush Chat (E. tricolor] of the inland provinces 

 has a handsome plumage of scarlet, brown, and white. 



Redstarts. The next subfamily (RuticittiiUB) composes a notable assem- 

 blage of birds, among them the Redstarts, Robins, Bluethroats, and Nightin- 

 gales, which in a way connect the true Thrushes with the Chats. They are 

 small, mainly terrestrial, migratory birds, with relatively long tarsi and strong 

 feet, and subsist mostly upon insects; among them are a number of incom- 

 parable songsters. 



The true Redstarts (Phcenicurus) number about fifteen species, which are 

 confined to northern Africa, Europe, and Asia north of the Himalayas. Not 

 exceeding six or seven inches in length, they may be known by the short, slender 

 black bill, sharply pointed wings, and a rather long, square tail, which, together 

 with the rump, is mostly chestnut or reddish in color. Of the two species found 

 in Europe the prettiest is the little Redstart, or Firetail (P. phcenicums], which 



