THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
339 
BLACK CAP RJEJD START. 
The Ground Robin (. Erythacus mbecula). This bird is more properly the 
robin redbreast , and is so designated in Europe, for the breast is a pale red, 
which color is continued about the throat, chin, forehead and around the eyes. 
This bird is very common in the United States, usually found in fallow fields, 
but also visits the city parks. In size and habits it is identical with the joree 
robin, but is more sociable, and quick 
to adopt the friendship of man. The 
nest is usually built in the same man¬ 
ner as that of the joree, but a little 
encouragement will cause it to build 
in a room, and become the voluntary 
pet of a family. While insectivorous, 
it also exhibits queer tastes, being ex¬ 
tremely fond of butter, tallow, cream 
and fat meat, and, to procure these, will 
not hesitate to act the part of a thief. 
The Garden Red-tail (, Rucitilla 
phcenicura) is native to Europe, as is 
his congener, the Black Cap Red Start 
(. R . tethys). They are both excellent 
singers, with notes sometimes resem¬ 
bling those of the nightingale. The 
names are derived from the ruddy 
chestnut color of the tail-feathers of the former, and the black feathers of the 
latter. Their flight .is rather eccentric, and not unlike our common snowbird 
and brown wren, starting out of hedges when little expected, and, after a 
flight of a few feet, darting back again into the thickest parts, where they find 
concealment. Their nests are usually built in the hollow of a tree or the 
crevice of an old wall. 
The Ortolan, or Wheat Ear 
(i Saxicola oenanthe') also called Stone 
or Fallow Chat , is occasionally met 
with on the Atlantic coast of our 
country, but only as a stray, its 
home being in the old world, 
where it is widely distributed. 
Though a small bird, and a fair 
singer, its flesh is so highly es¬ 
teemed in England, that great num¬ 
bers are taken and sold in the 
market. Its habit of taking refuge 
under a stone, tuft of grass, or any 
object that seems to offer shelter, 
at the least alarm, is taken advantage of by hunters to capture it by laying 
snares before such places. The chat builds its nest in deep crevices of rocks, 
and otherwise affects a partiality for stones, even his notes bearing a striking 
resemblance to the sound produced in breaking stones with a hammer. He is 
believed, by ignorant people, to be a sure precursor of death, on which account 
he is mercilessly persecuted. One of the principal reasons for this strange 
ORTOLAN. 
