M0TAC1LLA. 
$6 
the body and tail-coverts ferruginous brown ; under parts 
reddilh white, mottled acrofs tlie breaft with dufky ; legs 
pale brovv'n. In the collection of fir Jofeph Banks. 
169. Motaciila borealis, the northern warbler: length 
five inches ; bill pale ; forehead, throat, and tides of the 
head, ferruginous; upper parts of the body green; the 
under, yellow; both inclining to olive ; tail rounded ; 
the tips of all but the two middle feathers nearly white ; 
legs dulky. Native of Kamtfchatka. 
170. Motaciila Kamtfchatkenfis, the Kamtfchatka 
warbler : upper parts brown ; beneath paler ; middle of 
the belly white; front, cheeks, and chin, pale ferrugi¬ 
nous ; bill long and (lender. Inhabits Kamtfchatka. 
J71. Motaciila awatcha, the awatcha warbler: crown 
of the head, and upper part of the neck and body, deep 
brown; primaries edged with white; lower part of the 
five outmoft feathers of the tail deep orange, tips brown ; 
the two middle feathers wholly brown; throat and breaft 
white, i'potted with black ; from the upper mandible to 
each eye an oblique white line ; tides pale ruft-colour; 
middle of the belly white. Inhabits Kamtfchatka. 
172. Motacillacanefcens,the VanDiemen warbler: length 
fix inches and a half: bill black ; forehead marked with 
white ft rise; fpace over the eyes, and the cheeks, whitilh; 
back brown, mixed with white ; wings pale brown ; moft 
of the feathers fulvous on the outer edges, forming a ful¬ 
vous fpot on the wings ; tail half-way on the bale pale 
fulvous, the two outer feathers on each fide marked with 
a white fpot within, at the tips ; under parts of the body 
white; breaft and vent ftriped longitudinally with white; 
legs black. Inhabits Van Diemen’s Land. 
173. Motaciila sequinodlialis, the equinoClial warbler: 
brown teftaceous ; beneath white: rump pale; tail-fea¬ 
thers with obfolete bands. Inhabits Nativity Ifland; fize 
of a fparrow. 
174. Motaciila nigricollis, the black-necked warbler: 
bill yellow, the bale blue; crown and hind part of the 
neck black ; the feathers Iongiftr, fo as to form a creft at 
pleafure; fides of the neck, breaft, and belly, reddilh white ; 
back and wing-coverts, light grey ; primaries and tail 
black; legs yellow. Inhabits India. 
175. Motaciila plumbea, the plumbeous warbler: fmall: 
bill dulky brown; plumage above deep lead-colour, near¬ 
ly black ; beneath pale alh-colour; quills and tail dufky; 
legs deep brown. 
176. Motaciila Cambayenfis, the Cambay warbler: 
blackifti-brown, beneath fine black, top of the belly and 
vent rufty-rufous; wing-coverts white. Bill black ; tail 
three inches long; legs brown. Inhabits India ; fix inches 
long. 
177. Motaciila Guzurata, the Guzerat warbler: green- 
ilh, beneath white; crown chefiuit; quill-feathers and 
tail brown. Bill and legs pale brown ; quill and tail fea¬ 
thers, edged with green. Inhabits India; four inches 
and a half long. 
178. Motaciila Afiatica, the Afiatic warbler: brown, 
beneath yellowilh ; head and neck black ; lores and chin 
white ; tail long. Bill blackifh, with a few fmall briftles 
at the bafe; breaft with a few white fpots; tail three 
inches and a half long, wedged, the outmoft feathers pale 
from the middle to the tip. Inhabits Guzerat; fize of a 
nightingale. 
( 3 . Front, eyebrows, and body beneath, white ; lateral 
tail-feathers half white. 
179. Motaciila caprata, the Luzonian warbler: fize of 
the ftonechat: bill dufky ; the whole bird is blackifh 
brown, except the finaller wing-coverts neareft the body, 
and the vent, which are white; and in fome birds the 
rump is alio white ; legs black brown. The female is 
brown above ; beneath rufous brown ; throat whitilh ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts pale rufous; the under, 
dirty rufous white; tail brown. Inhabits the Ille of Lit¬ 
ton, where it is called mariu-capra. 
180. Motaciila phcenicurus, the redftart: throat black, 
belly and tail rufous; head and back hoary; front white. 
This bird is well known to all Europe. In Greek it i® 
called tpoiv.y.Hcai; ; in Latin, pJicmieurus ; in Italian, sodi~ 
rejfo, corojjolo, revezol ; in German, likewife its names de¬ 
note the reddilh colour of its tail; rot-fiertz, rot-fchivent- 
zel, wein-vogcl, rot-Jcliwantz, &cc. it is alfo called ’haufs- 
roetele, fummer-roetele, (houfe or fummer red-bird.) The 
Engiifh name, redftart, is evidently borrowed from the 
German, rot-Jlartz , which fignifies red-tail.. 
The long of this .bird, though greatly inferior to that 
of the nightingale, yet partak.es of the fame modulations, 
and wears an air of tendernefs and melancholy. Such at 
leaft are the emotions which it awakens in us; for, with 
regard to the bird itlelf, it muft be the expreflion of joy 
and pleafure, as it is the expreflion of love, which is alike 
delicious to every animated being. This is the only ana¬ 
logy that fubfifts between the two birds; their habits, 
their fize, their plumage, are different, though in French 
the fame generic name of rnjjignol has been ufually ap¬ 
plied to both. This bird appears with its relatives in the 
fpring, and fits on towers and the ruins of deferted build¬ 
ings, and there it pours forth its notes. It even procures 
foiitude in themidft of cities, where it fettles on the top 
of a high wall, in a belfry, on a chimney, &c. always feek- 
ing the moft lofty and inacceffible fpots : it is alio found 
in the heart of the thickeft forefts. It flies nimbly ; and 
when it perches it vents a feeble cry, and quivers its tail 
inceffantly, not upwards and downwards,but horizontally, 
from right to left. It prefers the mountainous tra6b, and 
feldom vifits the plains. It is much lmaller than the 
nightingale, and even fomething lmaller than the red- 
breaft; its form is more lleuder, and longer; a black 
horfe-lhoe or crelcent covers its throat, and the fore-part 
and fides of its neck ; the fame black encircles its eyes, 
and reaches under its bill; a white bar malks its face; the 
crown and back ofits head, the upper part of the neck and 
back, are of a gloffy but deep grey ; in lome fubje&s, pro¬ 
bably old ones, this grey is almoft black ; the wing-quills 
are blackifh cinereous; their outer webs are of a lighter 
caft, and fringed with whitilh grey; below the black 
horfe-lhoe, a fine rufous flame-colour decorates a great 
part of the breaft ; and, fading fomewhat on the fides, it 
again relumes its luftre on all the plumage of the tail, ex¬ 
cept the two middle feathers, which are brown; the belly is 
white, and the feet black; the tongue is forked at the end, 
as in the nightingale. The female differs fo much from 
the male, that lome authors have reckoned it a fecond 
fpecies: it has neither the white face nor the black throat 
of the latter; both thefe parts are grey mixed with rufty, 
and the reft of the plumage is of a lighter tinge. 
Thefe birds breed both in towns and in the country, 
in hollow trees, holes of walls, or in the crags of rocks; 
they lay five or fix blue eggs; the young are hatched in 
May. During the whole time of incubation, the male 
warbles from lome neighbouring eminence, or from the 
top of a detached building ; and his mufic is moft melo¬ 
dious at day-break. It is faid that thefe birds are timo¬ 
rous and fufpicious, and that they will abandon their neft 
if they be leen employed in conftrudting it, and that they 
will delert the eggs if they be touched. All this is pro¬ 
bable ; but what Albin adds is abfurd : that, if the young 
be handled, the parents will leave them to their fate, or 
throw them out of their neft. 
The redftart, though it lives amidft our dwellings, is 
extremely averfe to domeftication. It has neither the fa¬ 
miliarity of the redbrealt, the lprightlinefs of the petti- 
chaps, nor the animation of the nightingale ; its habits 
are folitary, its character is fallen and fad. If it be caught 
in the adult ftate, it will refufe all fullenance, and pine 
to death ; or, if it furvive the lofs of its liberty, an obfti- 
nate filence will mark its difconfolate condition. How¬ 
ever, if it be taken from the neft and railed in the cage, 
it will ling; and inftruftion, or the imitation of other 
birds, will improve its long, which is heard indifcrimi- 
nately at every hour, and even during the night. It is 
fed with crumbs of bread, and with the fame pafte as the 
nightingale j 
