THE COMMON REDSTART.
Motacilla Phœnicurus, Linnæus; Le Rossignol de muraille, Buffon; Das Gemeiner oder Garten-Rothschwänzchen, Bechstein.
Its length is five inches and a quarter, of which the tail measures two and a quarter. The beak is five lines, the tip is blunt, black on the outside, yellow within and at the corners; the iris is black; the shanks are of the same colour, and ten lines high; the base of the upper mandible and cheeks are black, as also the throat, but this is speckled with white; the white on the front of the head unites with a streak of the same colour, which extends above the eyes; the back of the head and neck, the back and lesser wing-coverts, are dark ash grey tinged with a reddish colour; the rump, breast, and sides, are red inclining to orange.
The female is very different, very much resembling that of the black redstart, yet its colours are rather lighter. The upper part of its body is reddish ash grey; the whitish throat is not clouded with black till the fifth or sixth year; the breast is dusky rust-red waved with white; the belly is dusky white; the rump is reddish yellow[101].
It is not till after the first moulting that the distinction between the plumage of the males and females is obvious; even then the breast of the male retains the black tinged with white, but loses this tint in the course of the following summer; the males also have for some time a white streak on the forehead, that passes above the eyes, and the belly is more white than rust-red.
Habitation.—In a wild state these birds are found in Europe and Asia, and are very common in Germany and England. They leave us the beginning of October, and return the end of March or beginning of April. At this time and in autumn they haunt hedges and bushes; but in summer they principally frequent gardens, the banks of streams planted with willows, and even forests. Those that frequent gardens also enter towns, and will perch on the roofs of the houses, enlivening the inmates with their song from morning till night.
In the house, if given a cage, it should be of such light wire work as not to conceal the beauty of the plumage.
Food.—When wild they feed on all kinds of insects, earth-worms, currants, and elderberries.
In the house, if taken in autumn, they may sometimes be induced to feed on elderberries, rarely on the poultry paste. To entice them to this meal-worms must be mixed with it at first, and some thrown in when it is eaten; ants’ eggs must be added in spring. These birds are delicate, and always require to be supplied with insects; but never give them earth-worms, as they do not digest them easily. If kept in cages they should be given nightingales’ food; yet fed in this way it is rare to preserve them above three or four years; they generally die of consumption or atrophy.