THE ARCTIC BLUETHROAT. 

 Cyanecula suecica (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 4. 



This form of the Bluethroat, with a chestnut spot, set in the azure gorget, 

 breeds in northern Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia, migrating in autumn to spend 

 the winter in China, India, and Africa. 



On passage many pass along our east coast, mostly in autumn, though some- 

 times in spring, and great numbers visit Heligoland at the same time. 



During the breeding season the Arctic Bluethroat frequents swampy forest ground, 

 and in its nesting habits and character is very like a Robin. The nest, built of 

 dead grasses and roots, with a lining of rootlets and hair, is concealed in some 

 cavity in the side of a hillock, and contains five or six eggs. 



According to St^o\im {British Birds, p. 273), "They are greenish-blue, more 

 or less distinctly marbled with pale reddish brown, and are very similar to the 

 eggs of the Nightingale." 



The food consists of various insects, grubs, and earth-worms, and sometimes of 

 seeds. 



The Arctic Bluethroat is a loud and sweet singer, and is said to approach the 

 Nightingale in the richness of his song. 



In colour the females resemble the males in the greyish-brown of the upper 

 parts, but are usually greyish-white on the chin and lower breast, with a band of 

 dusky-brown across the chest. In some old females, however, the blue and chest- 

 nut colour is more or less displayed. 



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