on the Neslifig of the Black Redstart. 333


egg on the 29th, and ascertained that there were two young. It

was impossible to examine the latter, however, in such a dark

corner so, 011 the 4th July, I lighted a match and held it to the

nest. As it happened, Tites at that very moment flew into the

shed and apparently jumped to the conclusion that I was trying

to cremate his offspring; he flew out again exclaiming in strident

tones “ Tit-tit-tit-tit tit-er-er-tit,” and was evidently very much

upset, for, when I passed through the aviary again an hour or

two later, he was still talking about the matter. However, I

explained to him that the rule of this aviary was that all nests

must be examined daily, and that, if he did not like it, he must

make the best of it. The female was remarkably steady and

would almost allow me to place my hand upon her when on the

nest.


On the 9th July she commenced to build a new nest on the

top of the mud nest above alluded to, and this nest, which she

built without any assistance, was of a quite different type—large,

shallow, unlined, and constructed entirely of hay; the first nest,

which Tites built, was composed chiefly of moss, lined with some

hair and feathers. The first egg of the second clutch was laid

on the nth, and it is this clutch which is shown in the photo.

The dimensions were .So by .62in. The young left the nest on

the 12th, and their distinctive plumage interested me much.

Their tails, which were about an inch long, and also the under

tail-coverts were rufous * ; the flanges of the beak were lemon

colour and, contrasting with their dark mottled breasts, were

rather conspicuous. But what chiefly surprised me was that

the} 7 were so much darker than the adult female in body colour.

I11 such standard works as Morris, Bechstein, and even in the

accurate Saunders will be found the statement that the young

resemble the female, whereas, unless this was quite an abnormal

case, they (that is to say the young males) really much more

closely resemble the adult male on leaving the nest. And yet, in

their first autumn, even a good judge will often have difficulty

in distinguishing between the sexes. I recollect that our mem-


« N.B. The two middle rectrices are dark-brown : when the tail is not expanded,

these two are the upper ones and their colour is apparently protective, covering- and con¬

cealing the bright rufous of the other rectrices.



