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the cliffs when closely pursued ; but otherwise they show a most decided preference for rocks and 

 stones. In Switzerland, too, I have often remarked them on bushes or shrubs, both in the 

 valleys and on the mountain-sides. These birds seem to come over to us both singly and in small 

 flocks or flights ; for I have sometimes observed as many as twelve or fourteen flitting about near 

 the same place on the first morning of their arrival ; but generally only one or two are at first 

 seen. Should several appear in one locality they soon disperse to different quarters ; but I have 

 remarked that a favourite haunt is seldom without its Redstart during the winter, and should 

 that be killed another generally takes its place. Although active, watchful, shy, and suspicious, 

 these birds (at least the younger ones) appear to be easily trapped ; for I have on two or three 

 occasions obtained them with their wings and tails clipped (apparently with a pair of scissors), 

 and in one instance I shot one with its tail cut short and a piece of red worsted tied round its 

 leg. They are also sometimes caught with bird-lime. Most of the birds which visit our coast 

 are the young of the year, in the proportion of full twenty in the plain brownish grey dress (and 

 a few with the black on the throat just appearing) to one with the black breast and white patch 

 on the wing. And the same scarcity of old males, too, seems to prevail in the Continental 

 markets ; for among the many I have examined from time to time during the autumn exposed 

 for sale on the stalls, only one old male could I detect. In the progress towards maturity the 

 plumage of the male Black Redstart varies considerably. I have obtained them with the dark 

 feathers on the breast only just beginning to show, then with tolerably fine black breasts and no 

 white on the wings, then again, on one occasion, with the white pretty strong and not a sign of 

 black on the breast. This latter plumage is, I should think, but rarely seen, and seems to me 

 very strange, as the black almost invariably appears before the white. I believe that the winter 

 plumage of the fully adult male Black Redstart really differs but little from that of summer ; the 

 only difference is that in winter the feathers of the body, being longer and more or less tipped 

 with grey or brownish grey, give to the general plumage a duller cast ; but these tips becoming 

 abraded or worn off towards the summer (as in the case of many other small birds), leave the 

 under plumage of course more pure and distinct. Nevertheless I have seen a few splendid old 

 males at different times throughout the winter, with almost pure black breasts and a large white 

 patch on the wing ; indeed the white on the wing is then even more conspicuous than in the 

 breeding-season, for by that time the edges of the feathers have become comparatively short and 

 much abraded. I have never yet met with a Redstart in the pure grey plumage, said by some 

 to be observable in the so-called Sylvia cairii, although I have no doubt that, on the abrasion or 

 wearing off of the brownish grey tips of the plumage of both the adult female and immature 

 Black Redstart, the under tints would in the breeding-season appear much more pure. I myself 

 have never met with an instance of the Black Redstart remaining on our coast during the 

 summer ; but I have no doubt that the common Redstart has in some cases been mistaken for it. 

 On the other hand, however, I am perfectly certain that early arrivals of the Black Redstart on 

 the coast have been repeatedly mistaken for late stragglers of the common species." 



The Black Redstart breeds numerously throughout Central and most parts of Southern 

 Europe, usually placing its nest in an old wall or in a building of some sort, most frequently 

 close to human habitations ; but in the mountains where it breeds, far from inhabited places, it 

 selects holes in the lofty cliffs. Most of the nests I have seen were placed in holes in the walls 



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