0
=
i
a
5
a
q

; : = ie oe ae oe
“Tt generally arrives singly about the 25th of March or the beginning of ae a to a we

5 : : ; Oe ren ale S >t with elaine
of the season. ‘The male generally arrives some days before the female. It is to be met on the skirts

of most of oar small woods, principally along thick hedges, in osier-beds, and shrubs, on the banks of rivers,

rivulets, and meadows,

«Like the Redbreast it is somewhat solitary in its habits.
near approach, when it runs off before the intruder, raising and spreading its tail. By the end of April
they have mostly quitted our country ; but, as before said, a few remain to breed, who seek in woody and
Hardly are they settled before the male, perched on the

While feeding on the ground it admits of

marshy places a favourable spot for nesting. .
extremity of a branch, utters from dawn till the approach of night a simple warble having no remarkable
character. Occasionally the male ascends almost vertically into the air, singing all the while, and then, as
abruptly, descends to the ground or to the bush from which he took his flight. If, while feeding, the cry
of the female is heard, he stops immediately, listens to ascertain the place from which the sound proceeds,
and rushes towards her with the tail-feathers spread out like a fan and very much raised over the back.

“The nest is built in the beginning of May; it is a somewhat coarse structure, composed of leaves,
dried grasses, moss, and flexible roots, and lined with blades of grass, very fine straws, hair, and feathers.
Like that of the Redbreast it is placed on the ground amid roots at the foot of a shrub, in the centre of a
tuft of grass or the young shoots of the willow, even in hollow trees, and upon old mossy trunks sheltered
by leaves. The eggs are five or six in number, mostly of a delicate blue, but sometimes of a greenish tint.
By about the 15th of July the young are sufficiently advanced to seek their own food, consisting of worms,
caterpillars, insects, flies, and gnats.

‘In the month of August they resort to the fields, principally those of oats, maize, buckwheat, and lucern,
and also in vineyard-plots. During the hot weather this species is very fond of bathing, frequently wetting
itself to such an extent that but for the facility with which it rans it might be easily captured. They
usually leave Savoy from the 8th to the 10th of September ; occasionally a few arrive from the north about
the end of August, remain for a few days, and again depart southward early in the morning or at the approach
of night.”

Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., saw this bird at Gibraltar; and Mr. J. Clarke Hawkshaw procured a
specimen on the Upper Nile.

The Plate represents male, female, and four young birds, of the size of life.