Rubecula — Ruticilla \ 5 7 



All that Aristotle here has written of these two birds 

 Pliny has copied from him into his own work. But in this 

 matter each of them, relying on the tales of fowlers more than 

 on his own experience, has wandered greatly from the path 

 of truth. For both the birds are seen at the same time ; 

 moreover tame Rubecula;, when fed in cages, constantly 

 retain the same appearance. Moreover I have very often 

 seen the birds in England nesting at the same time, though 

 in very different ways. The Rubecula, which has a ruddy 

 breast no less in summer than in winter, nests as far as 

 possible from towns and cities in the thickest briers and 

 shrubs after this fashion. Where it finds oak leaves in plenty, 

 or leaves like the oak, it builds its nest among the leaves 

 themselves close to the roots of briers or the thicker shrubs : 

 and when completed covers it with leaves as if with topiary 

 work. Nor does access lie open to the nest on every side, 

 but by one way alone is entrance gained. And at that place 

 where it enters the nest the bird builds a long porch of leaves 

 before the doorway and, on going forth to feed, closes the 

 end with leaves. But, what I now describe, I first observed 

 when quite a boy, nevertheless I am not going to deny that 

 it may build otherwise. If any have observed another way 

 of nesting, let them tell it, and they certainly will not a little 

 gratify the students of such things, myself among the first. 

 I have imparted truthfully to others what I saw. 



The Phoenicurus which he [Gaza] calls the Rubicilla nests 

 in hollow trees and (as I often have had experience) in chinks 

 and cracks of walls and outhouses in the midst of our towns, 

 though where the throng of men is not so great. The male 

 has a black head, a red tail, but otherwise is like the 

 female, save that he repeatedly utters a little song. Either 

 sex flirts the tail continually. The female Phoenicurus and 

 its brood are so much like young of Rubecula that they 

 can scarcely be distinguished by the sharpest eye. But 

 by the motion of the tail they may be recognised. For the 

 Rubeculai, although they move the tail, yet, after they have 

 lowered it, at once raise it again, nor does it quiver twice 

 or thrice as does that of the Ruticilla. For no sooner have 

 the Ruticillse once begun to move the tail than they go on 

 till they have' lightly moved it three or four times altogether 



