. TffouM andffC Rm /ttrr. d et ei ftlA
ftU T IC IM LA TITHYS.
W n/t/r A- fa/m Im p
Black Redstart.
Sylvia Tiihya, Scop. Ann. Hist. Nat., tom. L p . 157.
Motacilla l i t h y Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 335.
— Pkamicwnu, var. 8, Gibrallariensis, et atrata, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. pp. 987, 988.
. Ruticilfu Tiihys, Brehtn, Vog. Deutschl., p. 365.
• - Cairii, Gerbe.
Plumncura Tethys, Jard. and Selby, 111. Orn., vol. i. pi. 86. figs. 1 & 2.
T h a t there are exceptions to ail rules, applies to natural history as well as to other things, and we have an
instance in point in the present species; for, whereas its ally, the Common Redstart, comes to us in spring
for the purpose o f spending the summer, the Black Redstart arrives in autumn, and takes its departure when
the winter is over. Had it been a species which breeds in high northern latitudes, like the Bramble Finch
and the Greater Redpole, its appearance in autumn would not elicit a remark, neither , would its occurrence
have caused so much thought to British ornithologists. The Bramble Finch and the Redpole are hard-billed
birds, and mainly live on seeds; the Black Redstart, on the other hand, feeds exclusively on insects; and
hence we might naturally suppose that, in common with all insectivorous migrants, it would cross the
Mediterranean in autumn, and the greater number do really proceed in that direction; hut a partial
migration westward also takes place, and seldom do the months of October and November recur
southern and western counties, particularly those of
s still further west, and crosses the Irish Channel, is
Ireland at the same season. It there also arrives with
tting forth their spring foliage. In the counties above
aasta or aiming the cavernous sand-hill» of their bays
» tw be an opening, pass out on the opposite side,
ess, but females and young males are ten times more
"u is merely a synonym there can be no doubt; for it
rom the Continent, with that name attached, are young
'hat these young males pair with the opposite sex, and
but, in all probability, the black livery is not assumed
this bird appearing in one o r other <
Devonshire, and Cornwall. That it a
Air k is occasionally found in many h
certain; ft
the fail of
mentioned,
three » »
*, and departs when the trees
ay one day walk along the r
Singh* esampK while W we
skms wüte« we receive n
not for a moment doubt I
hole of southern Germany, we might readily
ids; but I have never heard of an authentic
Sometimes an old cock ma
frequently met with. That
■ is certain that the numerous
males of this species. 1 do
perform every function necessary for reproduction
until the bird is two or three years old.
As the bird breeds in Belgium, the north o f France, and the
believe that it would perform the same duty in the British Isla
instance o f its so doing.
Although the habits and economy of the Ruticilla Tithys are very similar to those of the Redstart, still
they differ in certain points. They are less arboreal tbsp those of that bird, and present a striking resemblance
to the habits o f the more typical SaxicoHtue—Wheatears, &c. The Black Redstart evinces a greater
partiality for stony and rocky places; and although I have seen it nesting in the outhouse of a German
garden, the nest is more frequently placed in a crevice uf a stone wall or in the cleft of a rock, its egg*
are white. In this respect it also differs from its aftv,, as well as from the
Wheat e a r ; for the egg» of the
latter bird are not m blue as rl
and many others o f i
fullv adult, present the -»atne diffei
very similar.
I believe I was the first to no
ftntish bird, since ! f
to the instance of its occurrence c
the fifth volume of that work. 1
who has spent a long life in close)
than whom no,one can be more c
advancement of science, or when*
Gatcombe, o f Plymouth—has aist
remarks on this species with whic!
“ The Black Redstart is a regu
the first week in November, and 5
only have I observed them so earl