Redstart. INSESSORES. PH(ENICURA. 195 



BLUE-THROATED REDSTART. 



Phcenicura suecica. 

 PLATE C. Fig. 2. 3. 



Sylvia suecica, Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 521. sp. 43. 



Motacilla suecica, Linn. Syst. 1. 336. 37 Gmel Syst. 1. 989. 



Curruca suecica, Selby in Trans, of Nat. Hist. Soc. of Northumb. &c Cat. 



of Birds. 

 Cyanecuia, Briss. 3. 413. 19. Male. 



La Gorge bleue, Bii^f. Ois. 5. 206. t. 12.— W. PI. Enl. 610. fig. 1. 

 Becfin Gorge-bleue, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. 216. 

 Blue- throated AYarbler, Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. p. 417. E Lath. Syn. 4. 



p. 444. 30. 



From a specimen of this beautiful Redstart having been 

 killed in an undoubted wild state upon a common near to 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I feel authorized in adding it (like Occasional 

 the preceding species) to the list of British Birds, in the^^^^ ^" ' 

 light of an occasional visitant. Not having been able to in- 

 vestigate with the necessary strictness its direct affinities, and 

 the station it holds among the Sylv'iada:, at the time my ca- 

 talogue of birds hitherto met with in the northern counties 

 (published in the first volume of the Transactions of the 

 Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne,) was sent to press, I had there given 

 it as a species of Curruca, and consequently as belonging to 

 the Subfamily PMlomelina. Subsequent opportunities of 

 examination, and a strict analysis of its characters, indicate 

 a very close alliance with PhcRmcura, of which genus indeed 

 I have no hesitation in considering it a species. The infor- 

 mation to be obtained from the writings of other authors as 

 to its habits and general economy, is unfortunately very 

 meagre and unsatisfactory. Tkmminck says that it resides 

 in the purlieus of forests, and that it breeds in the holes of 

 decayed trees, and similar situations, in this latter respect re- 

 sembling the other Redstarts. The eggs are said to be of a Nest, &c. 



