104 
SYLVIAD7E. 
LVCESSORES. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
SYLVIA DM. 
REDSTART, REDTAIL, FIRETAIL. 
Phcenicura ruticilla. 
PLATE XXIX. FIG. II. 
The Redstart is amongst the most familiar of our 
summer visitors, frequenting our towns and villages, and 
building its nest in a hole in the garden wall, or the 
hollow of some tree. 
There its oft-repeated and monotonous note may be 
heard throughout the day, uttered sometimes in a tone 
of so much apparent anxiety and distress, that one is 
led to expect some enemy prowling near, and such is too 
frequently the case : numerous are the broods of this 
and other species of our friends, which fall an easy 
prey to the numerous cats that are ever on the watch. 
The nest of the Redstart is formed chiefly of moss 
and dry grass, lined with hair and feathers. Two nests 
sent me by my friend the Rev. W. D. Fox, differ so 
much that I will describe them separately. One, taken 
from a hole in a tree, was formed of moss, grass, and a 
few dry leaves, lined with a quantity of wool, mixed with 
fine grass and hair. The other, from a wall, was chiefly 
of dry grass, moss, and wool, with finer grasses and 
hair towards the inside, and lined with a profusion of 
white feathers. 
The eggs, which are from five to eight in number, are 
smaller than those of the hedge sparrow, of a more slender 
and delicate form, and usually of a lighter blue. 
