356 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
On the afternoon of May 28th I spent some hours in the 
beautiful Palace Gardens at Charlottenburg, near Berlin. The 
bird most frequently seen perhaps was the Black Redstart 
(Haus-Rothschwdnzchen), almost as familiar in its habits as our 
Redbreast, and having at a short distance much the character 
and look of that bird as it sits perched on some conspicuous 
place, a flower-stick, iron-fencing, or one of the ornamental 
vases so plentiful in German gardens. The Nightingale (Nachti- 
gall) was also very numerous, and I heard five or six all singing 
at the same time; also the Garden Warbler (Gartengrasmiicke) 
and Blackcap, but the former much more common. LHvery day 
I used to hear Nightingales singing within a hundred yards of 
the Brandenburg Gate. 
I found the Black Redstart also numerous in the gardens of 
the villas on the heights south of Dresden overlooking the Elbe ; 
indeed it appears to be everywhere far more plentiful than the 
Common Redstart (Garten-Rothschwdnzchen). Of the latter I only 
saw a few, generally about the outskirts of the forests and open 
places in the woods. Very favourite haunts of the Black Red- 
start are outbuildings in gardens, and courts and stable-yards, 
where the walls are covered with roses, jasmine, and trailing 
masses of the Virginian creeper. I have frequently noticed the 
male bird on the summit of a vine-stake, hawking from this 
perch at the passing insects, and in these short flights displaying 
the strongly contrasting slate-grey and bright chestnut, which 
are his predominant colours. Seen thus, under an almost 
tropical sun, he seems essentially best fitted for warmth and 
sunshine, yet it is a curious fact that late in autumn many 
come westward to winter on our south-western coast, and, stranger 
still, appear to find a congenial home amongst the chill mists 
and drifting scud of the wave-worn skerries and isolated rocks 
on the Irish coasts (see ‘ Report on the Migration of Birds,’ 1885, 
pp. 144-5). 
Another common bird in the Dresden gardens is the Icterine 
Warbler (Garten-Laubsdnger). When once heard it is impossible 
ever to mistake the song for that of any other of the small Warblers; 
it is composed of an extraordinary medley of notes, now its own 
and then imitative, expressed with the greatest energy, per- 
sistence, and power—a song full of melody, mixed, however, with 
notes that seem harsh, incongruous, and even grating. The 
