THE BLUE-THROATS. 
28 I 
Adult Female. — Different from the male, and wanting the 
blue on the throat, which is creamy-white, with black along 
the sides and across the fore-neck, slightly tinged with orange- 
buff on the chest, which is also mottled with blackish centres 
to the feathers. Total length, 5-3 inches ; wing, 2-8. 
Range in Great Britain.— Occurs in the southern and eastern 
counties of England mostly on the autumn migration, but has 
also been taken in the spring. In Norfolk, in i8bi and 1884, a 
considerable number were observed in September. It has 
never been recorded from Ireland, but three instances are 
known of its capture in Scotland. 
Range outside the British Islands. — Breeds in the high north of 
Europe and Asia, within the Arctic Circle, and at elevated 
situations in the birch regions in the central portions of 
Europe and Asia; it nests in Turkestan and Yarkand, and 
has been found in Kamtchatka and even in Alaska. It 
winters in India and Ceylon and the Burmese countries, as 
well as in Southern China. In Africa it has been found as 
far south as the equatorial provinces, and regularly winters in 
Abyssinia. 
Habits. — The Blue-throats seem to be everywhere swamp- 
loving birds, and the specimens of C. cyanecula which we pro- 
cured near the Neusiedler Lake in May, 1891, were noticed only 
in the dense beds of dwarf willows, where the ground was still 
moist under foot. Here only the males were observed, as they 
came occasionally to the top of a bush and utteied a short song. 
The females we never saw, and this accords with the testimony 
of other naturalists, that she is always more shy and retiring than 
her mate. Mr. Seebohm says that in Scandinavia the Blue-throat 
is one of the commonest of birds, and is not very shy on its first 
arrival. He writes : “ His first attempts at singing are harsh 
and grating, like the notes of the Sedge-Warbler or the still 
harsher ones of the White-throat ; these are followed by several 
variations in a louder and rather more melodious tone, repeated 
over and over again, somewhat in the fashion of a Song- lrus 1. 
After this you might fancy the little songster was trying to mimic 
the various alarm notes of all thebirds he can remember : the cha- 
nt of the Wag' ail, the tip-tip-tip of the Blackbird, and especially 
