316 



KIDD'S JOURNAL. 



Take of cloves one drachm; of sarsaparilla root 

 sliced and sassafras shavings, each two oz. ; boil- 

 ing water, three pints. Let them simmer several 

 hours, so as to have two pints remaining when 

 strained; add to which, powdered Rochelle 

 salts two oz. ; cream of tartar two oz. A wine 

 glassful to be taken in the morning before break- 

 fast, and repeated between meals two or three 

 times a day, according to its action on the sys- 

 tem, and continue it for a week or ten days as 

 may be required. This preparation may be made 

 without the cloves, which are added merely for 

 the purpose of preventing the mixture from de- 

 composing in three or four days.] 



A Wagtail in a Cage. — Some say the wag-tail 

 will not live happy in a cage, and that it will not 

 sing. To prove the contrary, mine, which is two 

 years old next June, is now coming into song- 

 very free. He is also tame and handsome. I 

 shall be proud to show him to any of your readers 

 who are passing 12 John Street, Old Kent Road, 

 near the Bricklayers' Arms. — E. Godfrey. 



[Our correspondent's P.S. is so original and 

 " smart," that we really must print it. ' Should 

 any one,' says he, 'call during my absence, if 

 they can ' vcat ' like the nightingale, Wag will 

 soon answer.'] 



THE BRITISH WARBLERS. 



BY THE LATE R. SWEET, F.S.A. — NO. V. 



We come next, to notice the Redstart, 

 Sylvia Phcenicurus. This is a very elegant 

 and interesting species of the Warblers, 

 and a good songster. Its food is precisely 

 the same as the last species we described. 

 In confinement it will sing by night as well 

 as by day, if a light be kept in the room 

 where it is. It will soon get very tame and 

 familiar, and will be much attached to the 

 person who feeds it. If brought up from the 

 nest it may be taught to sing any tune that 

 is whistled or sung to it. One that I was in 

 possession of some years ago, learnt to sing 

 the Copenhagen waltz, that it had heard 

 frequently sung. It would however some" 

 times stop in the middle of it and say 

 chipput, a name by which it was generally 

 called, and which it would always repeat 

 every time I entered the room where it was, 

 either by night or day. In Winter it would 

 generally begin singing in the evening as 

 soon as the candle was lighted, and would 

 often sing as late as eleven o'clock at night. 

 When it was hung out of the door, in the 

 cage, which it frequently was, the sparrows 

 would often come round it. It seemed par- 

 ticularly fond of them, and it learnt their 

 note, and would chirp and imitate their 

 call so exact, that any person who did not 

 know to the contrary, would have supposed 

 it to be the sparrows chirping. The Redstart, 

 in a wild state, chiefly visits gardens, lanes, 

 and old buildings ; and feeds on various 



kinds of insects, but seems to prefer the ant 

 and their eggs. In Spring, when it first 

 arrives in this country, it mounts to the top 

 of the loftiest trees, where it will sit and sing 

 for hours, beginning in the morning by day- 

 break. The earliest time of their arrival 

 that. I ever noticed was the 25th March. 

 Some years they come over at the beginning 

 of April, and sometimes not till the middle 

 of that month. It seems to be a very 

 peevish and fretful bird, often shaking its 

 tail, and repeating a quick shrill note, as if 

 it was in fear. One that I once reared from 

 the nest, was often allowed to come out of 

 its cage into the room. One day when 

 wanted to be got in, and not being willing 

 to go, it was driven round the room a few 

 times, which vexed it so much that it would 

 take no food afterwards, though restored to 

 its liberty. It remained sulky for three 

 days, and then died. Under the head " Red- 

 start," in his Appendix, Mr. Sweet says : — 

 I have now a beautiful male bird of this 

 species which I have possessed for six 

 years ; it always keeps itself in as good 

 health and in as fine plumage as if flying 

 wild in the open air, continuing in song the 

 greater part of the year. It is certainly the 

 most sensible and cunning species of the 

 tribe, and becomes very much attached to 

 any person who notices it. Mine flew out 

 of its cage about two years since, and got 

 away into the garden, where it continued six 

 or seven hours ; it then returned to its cage, 

 although it was a wild bird when first 

 caught. In the year 1825, I saw a female of 

 this species so late as 21st November, in 

 Camera Square, Chelsea. It was flying 

 about as lively as if it had been Midsummer. 



Note. — Dr. Latham, in his " Index Ornitho- 

 logicus," classes a large number of species under 

 the Genus Sylvia, which plan Mr. Sweet seems 

 to have followed. These however, are now 

 differently arranged by Naturalists. The Genus 

 Sylvia now only includes three varieties — S, 

 Hippolais, S, Sibilatrix, and S, Trochilus. The 

 others are divided into different Genera, as 

 Philomela (the Nightingale); Curntca (the 

 Whitethroat) • Salicaria (the Aquatic Warbler) ; 

 Saxicola (the Chat); Phcenicura (the Redstart). 

 Latham also includes others, such as the Robin 

 (Erythaca rubecula); Common Wren (Troglo- 

 dytes Evropceus) ; Golden Crested Wren (Pegu- 

 lus Auricapillus); Hedge Sparrow (Accentor 

 Modularis) &c, under this tribe. The Redstart 

 now bears the generic name given by Swain son 

 viz. : — Pliatnicura Putacilla.—E. C, Liverpool. 



The Last Improvement in Poaching. — 

 During the latter end of the past partridge season, 

 several shooters succeeded in making partridges 

 lie, by the ingenious plan of flying a kite over 

 the field in which they were ranging, with a 

 stuffed hawk attached to it by a string. The 

 result was that the birds were afraid to rise till 

 the dogs were close upon them.— [Noble sport! !] 



