680 The Sparrow-like Birds 



spends the summer months from April to August in Europe and eastern and 

 central Siberia and the winter in West and equatorial Africa. A familiar bird 

 to people in country districts, the male has the forehead white, the head and 

 upper parts of the back slate-gray, the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail chest- 

 nut-red, while the cheeks and throat are jet-black and the breast orange-rufous 

 or chestnut. It is an active and spritely though somewhat shy bird, frequenting 

 groves, parks, and gardens, and constantly flirting the tail as it moves about the 

 walls, crumbling ruins, and shrubbery. It feeds on insects, caterpillars, and 

 grubs, which it seeks on bushes, walls, or the ground, and on flies and gnats 

 which it catches on the wing with all the facility of a true Flycatcher. A clear 

 whistle answers for its call note, while its song, which it usually utters while 

 it perches on a twig, is a short, feeble, and monotonous, though rather sweet, 

 chant. The nest of the Redstart is a loosely made structure of dry grass, roots, 

 and moss, lined with hair or feathers, and placed in a hole, usually in a wall, 

 but sometimes in a hollow tree. The five to eight eggs are greenish blue, usually 

 unspotted but occasionally with a few obscure dots of reddish. 



Black Redstart. Even more familiar and better known is the Black Red- 

 start (P. titys) of central and southern Europe in summer and north coast of 

 Africa in winter. Although tamer than its relative, its habits do not greatly 

 differ, and its song and call notes are similar. It is, however, more given to fre- 

 quenting the vicinity of farm buildings and other human habitations, coming 

 even into towns and cities, and often chanting its notes from a housetop. It is 

 a persistent singer in fair weather, commencing early in the morning and con- 

 tinuing almost uninterruptedly until late evening, but in inclement weather it 

 appears disconsolate and sits in dejected attitude. The nests, similar in con- 

 struction to those of the Redstart, are placed in holes of buildings, in clefts of 

 rocks, or holes in walls. The five or six eggs are pure white. After the first 

 brood is on the wing they are turned over to the care of the mal, and the female 

 deposits a second set of eggs. This species does not breed in the British Islands, 

 but a greater or less number reach there annually, mostly in fall and winter, 

 sometimes passing this entire season about cliffs and dwellings. The male 

 Black Redstart has the upper parts dark slate-gray, the rump and tail chestnut- 

 red, except the central pair of feathers which are dark brown, while the neck, 

 throat, and breast are deep black and other under parts slate-gray; the female 

 is mainly sooty brownish gray, the young resembling the female. 



Bluethroats. Although approaching the Redbreast (Erithacus) and often 

 placed with it, the beautiful Bluethroats (Cyanosylvia), of which four forms 

 are now recognized, seem worthy of generic separation, being distinguished by 

 a very short tail, the basal half of which is chestnut, and the brilliant blue chin 

 and throat in the males, the whole upper plumage being brown. The Red- 

 spotted Bluethroat (C. suecica), so called from the presence of a rufous spot in 

 the center of the throat, reaches in May its summer home in the north of Europe 

 and Asia up to the Arctic Circle, the males preceding the females by a few days; 

 in August they leave on the return journey to spend the winter in northern Africa 

 and India. They frequent especially swampy ground, thick grass jungle, and 



