“ It generally arrives singly about the 25th of March or the beginning of April, according to the nature 
of the season. The male generally arrives some days before the female. It is to he met with on the skirts 
of most of our small woods, principally along thick hedges, m osier-beds, and shrubs, on the hanks of rivers, 
rivulets, and meadows, 
“ Like the Redbreast it is somewhat solitary in its habits. While feeding on the ground it admits of 
near approach, when it runs off before the intruder, raising and spreading its tail. By the end of April 
they have mostly quitted our country; but, as before said, a few remain to breed, who seek in woody and 
marshy places a favourable spot for nesting. Hardly are they settled before the male, perched on the 
extremity of a branch, utters from dawn till the approach of night a simple warble having no remarkable 
character. Occasionally the male ascends almost vertically into the air, singing all the while, and then, as 
abruptly, descends to the ground or to the bush from which he took his flight. If, while feeding, the cry 
of the female is heard, he stops immediately, listens to ascertain the place from which the sound proceeds, 
and rushes towards her with the tail-feathers spread out like a fan and very much raised over the back. 
“The nest is built in the beginning of May; it is a somewhat coarse structure, composed of leaves, 
dried grasses, moss, and flexible roots, and lined with blades of grass, very fine straws, hair, and feathers. 
Like that of the Redbreast it is placed on the ground amid roots at the foot of a shrub, in the centre of a 
tuft of grass or the young shoots of the willow, even in hollow trees, and upon old mossy trunks sheltered 
by leaves. The eggs are five or six in number, mostly of a delicate blue, but sometimes of a greenish tint. 
By about the 15th of July the young are sufficiently advanced to seek ther own food, consisting of worms, 
caterpillars, insects, flies, and gnats. 
“ In the month of August they resort to the fields, principally those of oats, maize, buckwheat, and lucern, 
and also in vineyard-plots. During the hot weather this species is very fond of bathing, frequently wetting 
itself to such an extent that but for the facility with which it runs it might be easily captured. They 
usually leave Savoy from the 8th to the 10th of September ; occasionally a few arrive from the north about 
the end of August, remain for a few days, and again depart southward early in the morning or at the approach 
of night.” 
Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., saw this bird at Gibraltar; and Mr. J. Clarke Hawkshaw procured a 
specimen on the Upper Nile. 
The Plate represents male, female, and four young birds, of the size of life. 
