select grassy spots. I have never seen or heard of but ove other Devonshire specimen; and that was sent

from Teignmouth with some Redstarts to Plymouth to be preserved.” Were it necessary, I could doubtless
5 ° °. . ° e

find other notices of its occurrence in our island ; but sufficient has been said to establish its claim to be

considered a British Bird.

; oe oan
Temminck, in his ‘ Manuel,’ says ei ue
plus grandes élévations des montagnes, et descend dans les régions moyennes a l’approche de

Bernard, dans les environs de V’hospice; également abondant dans

« Habite: sur les Alpes, le long des rochers; dans la belle saison il

gagne les
Phiver; trés-commun sur le Saint
quelques parties montueuses de Allemagne et de la France.

« Nourriture: petits hannetons et autres insectes; en hiver uniquement des semences et des plantes
alpestres.

«« Propagation: niche dans les fentes des rochers, quelquefois aussi sous les toits des maisons et dans les
villages situés sur les montagnes ; pond cing ceufs verdatres.”’

«This bird,” says Bailly, “is common during the breeding-season in all the Maurienne Alps, Mount Cenis,
and Chamounix ; it is even met with as bigh as the region of perpetual snow, and also inhabits, but in
lesser numbers, the rocky portions of the Tarentaise Alps, more especially the vicinity of the glaciers of the
Allues, and similar situations. It builds in the hollows or crevices of inaccessible rocks, in the mouths
of the funnels, as they are called, or small cavities formed in the chalky part of the rocks by the
dripping of water, sometimes on the ground amidst heaps of stones, among the rubbish fallen from the
neighbouring heights, and occasionally in the cavities of old pines or firs growing on the summits of the
rocks close to the glaciers, and sometimes under the roofs of chalets. Both sexes assist in the collection of
the materials for the nest, which is outwardly composed of mosses, dry grasses, and the roots of plants, the
interior lining being formed of hay and the down of flowering plants; when complete, it is nearly as large
as that of the Rock-Thrush, which it much resembles. I have also found nests composed almost entirely
of the straw of oats, rye, and wheat—an anomaly which is thus accounted for: those who collect ice in the
glaciers frequently let fall pieces of the straw in which it is wrapped for transport; and of these the birds
immediately avail themselves. About the middle of May the female deposits four or five eggs, of a glossy
greenish blue without spots, and towards the end of June or the beginning of July makes a second laying
of three or four, always at a greater elevation than that at which the first were placed.”

The sexes, like those of the other members of the genus, differ so little in their colour and markings that
it is impossible to say for certain, from external appearance, which are males and which are females.

The male has the feathers of the head, neck, and ear-coverts brownish-grey, darkest in the centre; on the
throat a large gorget of greyish white, with a small spot of slaty black at the tip of each feather; feathers of
the back blackish brown, broadly margined with light reddish brown: rump greyish brown; greater and
lesser wing-coverts light brown at the base, black towards the extremity, and with a spot of white at the tip,
forming two bands across that part of the wing ; spurious wing light brown, tipped first with a narrow line
of white, and then with black; primaries brown, with lighter edges, the remainder of the wing-feathers
blackish brown, margined on both webs with reddish brown, and slightly tipped with dull white ; upper
surface of the tail-feathers dark brown, tipped with light buff; chest, reddish grey ; flank-feathers rufous,
margined with greyish ; under tail-coverts dark brown, margined with reddish brown at the base, and tipped
obliquely on each side with greyish white; irides hazel; bill yellow at the base, black at the tip; legs and
toes orange-brown, claws black.

The figures in the accompanying Plate are of the size of life. The red-flowering plant is the Rhododendron
Serrugineum, and the blue one Gentiana verna.

Se A he Sel DE a Se BN Ae NRT SN 2 rere en