Correspondence.



125



those that have previously appeared. It contains three coloured

plates, representing a Garden Warbler feeding its young, the Marsh

Warbler and the Subalpine Warbler, and five photogravure plates of

the Marsh Warbler in various characteristic attitudes, and its nest..

In all of these Mr. Gronvold exhibits his very best work, the por¬

trayal of the plumage being' exquisitely soft and the figures wonder¬

fully life-like.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, &c.



THE MOULT OF IMMATURE BLACK REDSTARTS.


SIR,—When writing recently in the Magazine I suggested that young

male Black Redstarts probably assume an eclipse plumage at their first

autumnal moult because they are (as far as my limited experience goes) so

much darker than adult females in nest feather, but barely distinguishable from

the latter in the interval between their first autumnal and first spring moult. I

released the adult female when clean moulted and, as I expected, she flew straight

away just like a wild bird. The two young males were rather backward and

showed no inclination to forage for themselves and, even if they had been a little

older and more experienced, they would certainly have perished in the truly

appalling weather which we experienced here at the end of August. So I let an

exhibitor, who has kept one of my young Stonechats in good trim for almost two

years, have them for a few shillings on the understanding that he should report on

the change of colour, if any. It may perhaps be of interest to quote briefly from

his report which, as will be noted, supports the above conjecture. His letter is

dated 7th Nov.: “I very much regret the delay in answering your previous,

enquiry re Blackstarts, but you will understand that this is our busy season and

I am at business until 9 p.m. and it is almost 10 p.m. before I get home, so that

I have had really very little spare time since the beginning of September. The

Blackstarts have both finished their moult and have become very much lighter

in colour than when in nest feather. I can hardly describe the colour correctly,

but it is a very soft shade of grey. The inner flight feathers have an edging of

brown, the same as in the Redstart, but I think that was the colour they had

when in nest feather as they did not moult wings or tail. Thev look very nice

just now.”


Whilst on this subject I may mention that one of our members, who wae

staying last October at Brixham, came over to spend a day with me and told me

that he had seen no less than seven Blackstarts in a quarry there one sunny

morning. There is a rumour that four of them returned home with him. As

has been the case with those I have seen myself on our Devonshire coast, he--



