288 BRITISH BIRDS. 



and still massive walls, ivy-covered and moss-grown, it delights to sit and 

 chant its short and monotonous song. The Redstart, however, is by no 

 means confined to the vicinity of rocks and ruins. I have often chased 

 him in the pine-forests, where his habit of keeping near the tops of the 

 trees causes him to pass unnoticed by those who are unfamiliar with his 

 simple song. He is very restless, and is seldom secured without a long 

 chase. The Redstart also has his home in wilder places — in the coppices 

 just on the borders of the moorland, the birch-groves, and woods where old 

 and decayed timber is abundant and the ground beneath is strewn with 

 rock-fragments, amongst which the bracken and the briars grow in wild 

 uncurbed luxuriance. Rocky commons, mingled with hawthorn and holly, 

 brambles and briars, and old and disused lanes where walls alternate with 

 hedges are also favourite haunts of the Redstart. 



The spring migration of the Redstart is usually performed during the 

 first week in April, sometimes a little earlier, according to the state of the 

 season. About that period of the year the male birds may be noticed in 

 their favourite haunts ; for they precede the females a few days, as is the 

 case with most of the British warblers. At this season of the year Red- 

 starts may be often seen in large numbers on the coast, in similar situations 

 to those which the Wheatears choose upon their arrival ; and they are 

 often seen hopping about the rocks and cliffs, or frequenting the bushes 

 amongst the sandhills. They are restless and shy, and gradually retire 

 inland to their breeding-places, or go on again still further north to more 

 distant climes to rear their young. The Redstart migrates at night ; and 

 hence the birds may be entirely absent one day, but may literally swarm 

 the next. The autumn migrations of the Redstart are not so easy to 

 observe as its spring movements. It departs imperceptibly : its song has 

 been long relinquished ; its call-notes are rarely heard; and hence its pre- 

 sence is seldom missed until it has probably long set out on its southern 

 journey. The shyness of the moulting-season seems to be retained; and 

 the fact that the male bird departs some little time before the female, 

 whose sober colours and retiring habits causes her to be often overlooked, 

 also tends to make their autumnal movements difficult of investigation ; 

 but during the last week of September, when I was on the island of 

 Heligoland, I had an excellent opportunity of seeing the migration of the 

 Redstart. On the 24th, and again on the 26th, these pretty birds abounded ; 

 and among the examples which the boys caught in their traps, I selected a 

 dozen for my collection. 



The Redstart is a familiar although a shy bird, — familiar as to its choice 

 of a haunt, being often seen in the same locality as the Robin or the Hedoe- 

 Accentor ; and shy, rarely allowing a close approach, generally frequenting 

 the tops of lofty trees, but sometimes hiding itself from view in the 

 thickest cover, or flying away as soon as its privacy is intruded upon. 



