REDSTART. 



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back ; the chin whitish ; breast and sides inclining- to rufous ; rump and 

 tail like the male, but less bright. It is remarkable that many of the 

 warblers who migrate from the south to breed in our climate confine 

 themselves to intermediate situations, like the nightingale, which has 

 never been found farther north than Yorkshire, nor further west than 

 Somersetshire ; so the Redstart is rarely found in Cornwall, and per- 

 haps not frequently west of Exeter, in Devonshire. 



* " We have frequently," says Syme, " met with it in the neighbour- 

 hood of Edinburgh. Though a very shy bird, it often approaches and 

 builds near the habitations of man, and constructs its nest in places that 

 we would scarcely expect so timid a bird would select for that purpose. 

 At Craigcrook Castle, near Edinburgh, we found its nest in a hole of a 

 wall close by an old gate way, through which people daily pass to the 

 castle ; it was placed within reach of the hand from the ground. These 

 birds often haunt orchards, gardens, and shrubberies ; but they also 

 frequent solitary situations among rocks, crags, and woods, where they 

 build in the crevices of dangerous ravines and precipices. Though 

 wild and timorous birds, they are often found in cities, but always 

 selecting the most difficult and most inaccessible places for the import- 

 ant work of incubation. If the eggs are touched by the hand, unless 

 the hen has sat some time, she will forsake the nest and build again." * 



Its song is soft and short, and, when perched, it frequently vibrates 

 its tail in a quick and singular manner. *Bechstein says, its song is 

 lively and agreeable, and that in addition to its natural note, it 

 sometimes improves it by adding those of other birds, among which 

 it is found. " One which had built its nest under my house," he 

 adds, " imitated very exactly the note of a chaffinch I had in a cage 

 in the window, and my neighbour had another in his garden which 

 repeated all the notes and cadences of the fauvette. This facility 

 in appropriating the song of other birds is rare in a wild state, and 

 appears to be almost confined to this species, which is very common 

 throughout Europe and Asia. It leaves Germany in the early part of 

 October, and again returns in March or April. During the spring and 

 autumn they haunt the hedges and skirts of the forests, but in the 

 summer they frequent the gardens, where they recompense their host, 

 if he happen to be a lover of nature, by their morning and evening- 

 song." 



" In confinement, it soon," says Sweet, becomes " very tame and 

 familiar, and will be much attached to the person that feeds it ; if 

 brought up from the nest, it may be learned to sing any tune that is 

 whistled or sung to it. One that I was in possession of some years 

 back, learnt the Copenhagen waltz, that it had frequently heard sung, 



