114 THE' ARCTIC BLUE-THROAT. 



small remnant could be added to our national 

 collection, as a reminiscence of my visit to 

 Hungary. The only thing the Dermestes had not 

 touched was the taxidermist's account. Would 

 that they had eaten it ! The Dermestes were 

 small ; the bill was not ! 



So ended my first, and, perhaps, my last 

 acquaintance with the Arctic Blue-throat, unless 

 by chance I come across it some autumn on the 

 east coast of England, to which it is not an 

 unfrequent visitor at that time of year. It is a bird . 

 of wide range, for it is found throughout Northern 

 Europe and Northern and Central Asia in sum- 

 mer, and winters in India, Burma, and in North- 

 eastern Africa. The birds which visit England 

 in September ought to be on their way to the latter 

 country, but, like many other birds, the Blue- 

 throat occasionally steers a westerly course, and 

 so a few individuals land in the British Islands. " 



In many of its ways the Blue-throat resembles 

 a Robin, and its spotted young are singularly 

 like those of the latter bird and those of the Red- 

 start. If the Robin is a bird of the houses and 

 gardens, and the Redstart a bird of the woods, 

 the Blue-throat is a bird of the swamps, and like 



