310 THE REDSTART. 
It is a handsomely-coloured and elegantly-shaped bird, and is a great 
ornament to our fields and hedge-rows. The name of Redstart is a very 
appropriate one, and has been given to the bird in allusion to the peculiar 
character of its flight. While walking quietly along the hedge-rows, the 
observer may often see a bird flash suddenly out of the leafage, flirt its tail in 
the air, displaying strongly a bright gleam of ruddy hue, and after a sharp 
dash of a few yards, turn into the hedge again with as much suddenness as 
it had displayed in its exit. These manceuvres it will repeat frequently, 
always keeping well in front, and at last it will quietly slip through the 
hedge, double back on the opposite side, and return to the spot whence it 
had started. 
No one need fancy, from seeing the bird in the hedge, that its nest is in 
close proximity, for the Redstart seldom builds in such localities, only haunt- 
ing them for the sake of obtaining food for its young. The nest is almost 
invariably built in the hole of an old wall, in a crevice of rock, a heap of 
REDBREAST.—(Zrythacus rubecula,) 
large stones, in a hollow tree, or in very thick ivy. The eggs are generally 
five in number, although they vary from four to seven, and are of a beautiful 
blue, with a slight tinge of green. They are not unlike those of the common 
hedge-sparrow, but are shorter and of a different contour. ; 
The Redstart has a very sweet song, which, although not very powerful, is 
soft and melodious, bearing some resemblance to that of the nightingale. 
The food of the Redstart is mostly of an insect nature, and is obtained in 
various ways. Sometimes the bird dashes from its perch upon a passing 
insect, after the manner of the flycatcher ; sometimes it chases beetles and 
other creeping insects upon the leaves and branches of the hedges ; some- 
times it hunts for worms, grubs, and snails from the ground; and it often 
picks maggots out of fungi, decaying wood, mosses, and lichens. Soft ripe 
fruit is also eaten by the Redstart, which, however, ought to be allowed its 
free range of the garden in recompense for the great service which it has 
pertormedin the eailier portion of the year, by devouring the myriad insects 
