BLUE-THROATED REDSTART. 
123 
The Blue-throated Redstart — Phceni- 
cura suecica. — Motacilla suecica, Linn 
Sylvia suecica, Lath. — Phomicura suecica, Selby. 
— Blue-throated Redstart, and Blue-throated 
Warbler of British authors. — This interesting 
bird claims to be a still rarer visitant than the 
last, two instances only of its capture being re- 
corded. The one on Newcastle Town muir,* 
the other in Dorsetshire, f On the Continent it 
is generally diffused, but not abundantly, except 
in a few localities. It migrates from the south 
northward as far as Russia, Siberia, and the 
northern parts of Sweden. 
According to Temminck,} there are two very 
distinct varieties of this bird, he seems almost to 
think species. In the centre of the blue throat, 
there is in one a spot of silvery white, in the 
other of rufous red, — the last confined to the 
north, and supposed to be the true S. suecica of 
Linnseus, the other found in the southern districts, 
and for which, if proved distinct, he proposes 
(following Meyer) the trivial name of cyanecula. 
We cannot enter as we would wish into this sub- 
ject, from the want of sufficient specimens of 
each variety. It is possible that it may be depen- 
dent on the age of the birds, and that the pure 
colour, as in a few species, may not appear for 
• Synopsis of Newcastle Museum, p. 298. 
t Naturalist, vol. ii. p. 275. Yarrell British Birds, i. 
p. 234. 
t Supplement, i. p. 143. 
