12 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



those of the Redbreast, others that they are far more Chat-like. 

 Undoubtedly the scheme of colouring recalls that of the Wheatears, 

 next to which I should be inclined to place it. The female is 

 altogether duller than the male, and except in old age shows none 

 of the blue and chestnut which characterise the cock bird ; the belt 

 across her chest is also dark brown instead of black. 



The Wheatear (Saxicola osnanthe). 



In this bird the upper parts of the male are grey, but of the 

 female buffish-brown ; the under parts of the male are pale huff, 

 deeper (sometimes almost cinnamon) on throat and breast; in old 

 birds, whitish with buff throat and breast : in the female the under 

 parts are pale buffish-brown : the ear- coverts of the male are black, 

 but of the female brown. After the autumn moult, owing to the 

 pale buff fringes to the feathers, the male much more nearly 

 resembles the female. 



The Whinchat (Pratincola rubetra). 



The sexes are much alike ; but the female is paler throughout than 

 the male, all the black characters of the latter being replaced by 

 brown, and the white less pure. 



The Stonechat [Pratincola rubicola). 



In this species the female is altogether much duller in colouring 

 than the male, being browner throughout, with reddish-brown upper 

 tail-coverts, black-mottled throat, and all the white of the male 

 suffused with a rufous tint. 



The Redstart [Rubicola phomicurus). 



The hen Redstart differs remarkably from the cock, being a 

 brown bird, without the distinctive white forehead and black mask 

 characteristic of the male sex, or the rich chestnut of the breast and 

 flanks ; the vent and tail, though chestnut, are not so bright in 

 colour as in the male. 



The Black Redstart (Ruticilla titys). 



The female of this showy bird is quite unlike the male, being 

 mostly sooty-brown in colour ; even the cinnamon of the upper and 

 under tail-coverts, and the white borders to the secondaries, which it 

 has in common with its mate, are dulled by a brown suffusion. 



This completes the more typical familiar British Thrushes 

 belonging to the subfamily Turdina>. The next group of Thrush- 

 like birds of our islands which I shall have to ileal with is the 

 subfamily Sylviinee, or Warblers. 



