324 



8 



Beng. 1872, p. 53) found it in Sikkim, where he observed it in September and October during 

 migration; he shot one at Momay-Samdong. According to Mr. Holdsworth (P. Z. S. 1872, 

 p. 454), Mr. E. L. Layard obtained it in Ceylon in the month of March ; and Lord Walden 

 informs me that he has lately received it from the Andaman Islands. 



It is not uncommon in Siberia ; and I have specimens from Dauria. Dr. G. Radde writes 

 (Reis. im Sud. von O. Sib. p. 254) that it arrived at the Tarei-nor about the 6th of May, and on 

 the 9th of that month larger numbers were seen. On the return migration the first was seen on 

 the 16th of August; and on the 20th they had all left. Von MiddendorfF did not observe it on 

 the Taimyr; but on the Boganida (70° N. lat.) it bred not uncommonly, although none were 

 observed previous to the 13th of June, O. S. On the 18th of July unfledged young were seen; 

 and by the end of that month they were fully fledged. On the 18th of August both young and 

 old birds collected to leave. At Udskoj-Ostrog none were seen until the middle of May, and 

 Hedged young were found on the 13th of July. 



It occurs in China during migration ; and specimens in the collection of Mr. Swinhoe are 

 similar to those from North-eastern Europe. This gentleman observed it at Tientsin, and also 

 obtained it (Ibis, 1867, p. 394) in Amoy in January 1867. 



Although by most authors the Bluethroat is placed in the same genus with the Redstarts, 

 and, indeed, as pointed out by Professor Newton, any structural characters that can be found to 

 separate them must be most trivial, still I have deemed it most advisable, looking at the great 

 difference in habits, mode of reproduction, and colour of eggs, to keep the Bluethroats apart 

 from the Redstarts. My first acquaintance with the present species in a state of nature was 

 made at Uleaborg, in Finland, one bright evening in May, when, wandering about on the bush- 

 covered swampy meadows near that town, I heard a note with which I was quite unfamiliar. It 

 was a peculiar metallic sound, well described by Mr. Godman as being like that produced by 

 striking a metal triangle ; and at first I could not discover whence it came. At last, however, 

 I caught sight of a small brownish bird creeping about amongst the bushes after the manner of 

 our common Hedge-Sparrow. I followed it for some time, and observed that it was accompanied 

 by another ; but both were so shy that for long I could not get a shot at either ; but at last, as 

 they crossed a small open patch between two clumps of low bushes, I fired, and knocked one 

 over, and on picking it up was delighted to find an adult male Bluethroat in full plumage, a 

 bird I had till then never seen alive. I followed the other, which I suppose to have been 

 a female, but did not succeed in getting it. In its habits the present species, so far as my 

 own experience goes, somewhat resembles the Hedge-Sparrow, except that, unlike that species 

 (which frequents gardens and dry localities), it is almost invariably found in swampy low places, 

 always in the immediate vicinity of water. It creeps between the bushes, reeds, or rank 

 herbage with the greatest facility, and when pursued attempts to hide and thus escape notice. 

 Mr. H. W. Wheelwright, in his work on the ornithology of Lapland, says that it arrived at 

 Quickjock "the latest of all the Warblers ; for I did not see one till early in June, when they 

 appeared to come dropping in singly, stayed a few days in the lowlands, and then made their 

 way up at once to the flat swampy meadows at the foot of and between the fells. Here, among 

 the stunted willow bushes, always near water, you might see the female creeping from branch to 

 branch, like a mouse, while the male, perched on the top of a high bush or a dead tree, would 



