degrees a light grey colour; but it is probable they are
several years old before they attain the very dark sooty
grey colour ; so many shades of grey being observable among
them.
The vignette below represents the nest of the Black
Redstart, reduced in size, from the coloured figure forming
the subject of the fifteenth plate in the work of Dr. Schinz
on the Eggs and Nests of the Birds of Switzerland and Germany,
published at Zurich in 1819.
1NSESSORES.
d e n t i r o s t r e s .
SYLVIADM.
TH E STONECHAT.
Sylvia rubicola, The Stonechat, P en n . Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 526.
Motacilla ,, >> M ont. Ornith. Diet.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 278.
Saxicola ,, ,, F lem. Brit. An. p. 68.
Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 185.
”, J enyns, Brit. Yert. p. 121.
G ould, Birds of Europe, pt. vi.
, ,, Traquet rubicole, T emm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 246.
S axicola. Generic Characters.— Beak straight, slender, the base rather
broader than high, surrounded with a few stiff hairs ; the superior ridge of the
upper mandible prominent, the sides towards the point compressed : the point
itself curved and indented. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, half closed by a
membrane. Wings__the first quill-feather about half as long as the second ;
the second shorter than the third or the fourth, which are the longest in the
wing. Feet__the tarsus rather long, three toes in front, one behind ; the outer
toe connected by a membrane to the middle toe; claw of the hind toe short,
strong, and curved.