OBIGINAL SKETCHES OF BRITISH BIBDS. 211 



of Lord Churchill in this county, a clutch of six Redstarts' eggs, 

 all more or less boldly spotted with brown. The value of my 

 " find," however, was sadly discounted by the fact of the eggs 

 being on the point of hatching. In Mr. C. Dixon's same work, 

 and at the bottom of the same page, it is alleged that Hedge- 

 Sparrows' eggs are the only ones with which those of the 

 Redstart can be confused in our islands. In my opinion, the 

 latter bear a far more striking resemblance to Pied Flycatchers' 

 than to Hedge-Sparrows' eggs, compare them how you will. Not 

 only in grain and colour, but also in size and shape, Redstarts' 

 eggs, I contend, approximate more nearly to those of the Pied 

 Flycatcher. The highly polished shell to which some writers so 

 pointedly invite attention as a distinguishing feature of the egg of 

 the Redstart, I have never been discriminating enough to notice. 

 The song of the Redstart I am inclined to characterize as 

 unequal. I have frequently been astounded by the melody 

 flowing from the throat of this little bird, but on such occasions 

 it has almost always been perched amidst the uppermost 

 branches of lofty poplars, and April has invariably been the 

 month when I have heard it warbling what I deem its most 

 fascinating notes. It is many years now since I was first 

 attracted by its song under such circumstances ; and having 

 previously regarded it as merely a mediocre performer, and as 

 one that usually sang from a lower level, I brought my field- 

 glasses to bear on the songster, to avoid any risk of blundering ; 

 and what I then observed was recorded in my note-book on the 

 spot. Subsequent meetings with the Redstart in April in Ireland, 

 Wales, and other wide-distant portions of these islands, have not 

 led me to alter the opinion I formed of its carol as delivered from 

 the upper branches of a Leicestershire poplar — long, long ago. 



In support of what I have written above, it gives me satisfaction 

 to quote from Mudie's ' British Birds,' published in 1853, as fol- 

 lows : — " When the males arrive, they sing from elevated perches ; 

 but after the operations of nesting are begun, they sing lower, and 

 always within a short distance of the nest." While, somewhat 

 curiously, in the same connection and evidently pursuing the same 

 train of thought, Seebohm wrote exactly thirty years later : — " It 

 may also be noticed that the Redstart, directly after its arrival in 

 April, seeks the tree-tops for his orchestra ; but as the summer 



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