REDBREAST. 



403 



terised. Bill very long-, slender, weak, depressed in all its length ; the 

 joint flexible, curved upwards ; upper mandible furrowed on its sur- 

 face ; under mandible furrowed on the sides ; nostrils on the surface 

 of the bill, long- and linear ; leg's long- and slender ; three toes before, 

 hind toe almost wanting-, and jointed high upon the shank ; the fore 

 toes re-united as far as the second joint by a membrane ; wings acu- 

 minated, the first quill being the longest. * 



RED-BACKED SHRIKE. — A name for the Flusher. 



REDBREAST {Sylvia rubecula, Latham.) 



Sylvia rubecula, Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 520. sp. 42 Flem. Br. Anim. p. 68. — Mo- 



tacilla rubecula, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 337. 45 Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 993 Raii, Syn. 



p. 78. A. 3 Will. p. 160. t. 37 Briss. 3. p. 418. t. 21.— Rouge-Gorge, Buff. 



Ois. 5. p. 196. t. 11 lb. pi. Enl. 361 Bee-fin Rouge-Gorge, Temm. Man. 



d'Orn. 1. p. 215. — Rothburstiger Sanger, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 238. 

 —Frisch, Vog. t. 19. f. 1 .—Redbreast, Br. Zool. No. 147.— Arct. Zool. 2. p. 



417. D Lewin's Br. Birds, 3. 1. 107.— Lath. Syn. 4. p. 442. 38 Mont. Orn. 



Diet.— Wale. Syn. 2. t. 238 Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 9 Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. 



p, t. 204.— Low's Fauna Oread, p. 69.—Selby, pi. 46. fig. 2. p. 181. 



This well-known species of warbler needs little description. The 

 upper parts are of a yellowish brown, tinged with ash colour ; forehead 

 and from chin to breast of a deep rufous orange ; belly and vent whitish; 

 the plumage of both sexes are alike ; the nestling-feathers of young 

 birds are spotted ; and they do not possess the red on the breast for 

 two or three months after they leave the nest. 



It is said to be a migrative species, but from no other reason than 

 their more frequent and numerous appearance about our habitations in 

 the winter, when the woods and fields are destitute of insects ; it is then 

 they seek the protection of man, and are so tame as to enter doors and 

 windows, and pick up the crumbs fallen from the table ; here they too 

 frequently fall a sacrifice to the watchful cat. 



* " The Redbreast," says Fleming, in a letter to Colonel Montagu, 

 " is only occasionally observed in Zetland after gales of wind." Whe- 

 ther in spring or autumn, or at what season, is not mentioned ; but 

 most probably in the latter, when those which breed in the more 

 northern parts of the European continent may be shifting their quar- 

 ters, and, by accident, are driven from Norway. * It sings throughout 

 the winter, except in severe weather. About the beginning of April 

 it prepares a nest in some mossy bank or out-building, composed of 

 dead leaves, green moss, and stalks of plants, lined with hair ; and lays 

 from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with rust-colour and cinereous ; 

 their weight about twenty-six grains. 



* The statement given in most books of natural history, that the 

 Redbreast, during summer, flies from the habitation of man, which he 

 has haunted during winter, to nestle in wild and solitary places, is far 

 from being strictly correct. I readily admit that many of these birds 



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