BLUE-THROATED WARBLER. 257 
“The notes of this bird have some resemblance to those of 
the Whinchat, but are more powerful. While singing, if 
undisturbed, it perches on the tops of the brushwood or low 
trees; but on the least alarm it conceals itself among the 
low cover. It does not exhibit the quiverig motion of the 
tail peculiar to the Redstarts; but very frequently jerks up 
the tail in the manner of the Nightingale and Robin, and 
while singing, often spreads it. It frequently rises on wing 
a considerable height above the brushwood, singing, with 
the tail spread like a fan, and alights often at a distance of 
fifty or sixty yards from the spot where it rose. On 
approaching the nest when it contains their young, their 
notes of alarm or anger resemble those of the Nightingale, 
but end with a short sharp note instead of the Nightin- 
gale’s croak: the wings are then lowered, the tail spread 
and jerked up. The Blue-throat commences his song with 
the first dawn of day, and it may be heard in the evening 
when most of the feathered tribe are silent. These birds 
are caught in autumn by snares baited with berries.” 
The beak and irides dark brown; over the eye a pale 
streak: the top of the head, all the upper surface of the 
body and wings, uniform clove-brown; outer edges of the 
wing-feathers lighter brown: the two middle tail-feathers 
clove-brown throughout their whole length; all the other 
tail-feathers have the basal half bright chestnut, the distal 
half nearly black: chin, throat, and fore part of the neck 
and upper part of the breast, ultra-marine blue, with a spot 
in the centre, which in some specimens is pure white, but 
in very old males is red; below the blue colour is a black 
bar, then a line of white, and still lower down a broad 
band of bright chestnut: belly dirty white; flanks and 
under tail-coverts light reddish brown; legs, toes, and 
claws, brown. 
VOL. I. 8 
