Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/336

Rh 318 R E D R E D tain to her equally as to her mate. The nest is almost always placed in a hole, whether of a tree or of a more or less ruined building, and contains from five to seven eggs of a delicate greenish-blue, occasionally sprinkled with faint red spots. The young on assuming their feathers present a great resemblance to those of the REDBREAST (supra, p. 314) at the same age; but the red tail, though of duller hue than in the adult, forms even at this early age an easy means of distinguishing them. The Redstart breeds regularly in all the counties of England and Wales ; but, except in such localities as have been already named, it is seldom plentiful. It also reaches the extreme north of Scotland ; but in Ireland it is of very rare occurrence. It appears throughout the whole of Europe in summer, and is known to winter in the interior of Africa. To the east- ward its limits cannot yet be exactly defined, as several very nearly allied forms occur in Asia; and one, R. aurorea, represents it in Japan. A congeneric species which has received the name of Black Redstart, 1 Ruticilla titys* is very common throughout the greater part of the Continent, where, from its partiality for gardens in towns and villages, it is often better known than the preceding species. It yearly occurs in certain parts of England, chiefly along or near the south coast, and curiously enough during the autumn and winter, since it is in central Europe only a summer visitor, and it has by no means the high northern range of R. phoenicurus. The males of the Black Redstart seem to be more than one year in acquiring their full plumage (a rare thing in Passerine birds), and since they have been known to breed in the intermediate stage this fact has led to such birds being accounted a distinct species under the name of R. cairii, thereby perplexing ornithologists for a long while, though now almost all authorities agree that these birds are, in one sense, immature. More than a dozen species of the genus Ruticilla have been described, and the greater number of them seem to belong to the Himalayan Sub-region or its confines. One very pretty and interesting form is the R. moussieri of Barbary, which no doubt allies the Redstart to the STONE- CHATS (q.v.), Pratincola, and of late some authors have included it in that genus. In an opposite direction the Bluethroats, apparently nearer to the Redstarts than to any other type, are by some authorities placed in the genus Ruticilla, by others considered to form a distinct genus Cyanecula, and by at least one recent writer referred to the genus Erithacus (see REDBREAST). If we look upon them as constituting a separate genus we find it to contain two or three distinguishable forms : (1) C. suecica, with a bright bay spot in the middle of its clear blue throat, breeding in Scandinavia, Northern Russia, and Siberia, and wintering in Abyssinia and India, though rarely appearing in the intermediate countries, to the wonder of all who have studied the mystery of the migration of birds ; next there is (2) C. leucocyanea, with a white instead of a red gular spot, a more Western form, ranging from Barbary to Germany and Holland ; and lastly (3) C. wolfi, thought by some authorities (and not without reason) to be but an accidental variety of the preceding (2), with its throat wholly blue, a form of comparatively rare occurrence. The first of these is a not unfrequent, though very irregular visitant to England, while the second has appeared there but seldom, and the third never, so far as is known. By 1 The author of a popular work on British birds has suggested for this species the name of " Blackstart," thereby recording his ign< .-ance of the meaning of the second syllable of the compound name as already explained, for the Black Redstart has a tail as red as that of the com- moner English bird. 2 The orthography of the specific term would seem to be titis (Ann. Nat. History, ser. 4, x. p. 227), a word possibly cognate with the first syllable of Titlark and Titmouse. the ornithologist of tolerably wide views the Redstarts and Bluethroats must be regarded as forming with the NIGHT- INGALE (vol. xvii. p. 498), Redbreast, Hedge -Spar row, Wheatear, and Chats a single group of the "Family" Sylviidse, which has been usually called Sajricolinw, and is that which is most nearly allied to the Thrushes (see THRUSH). In America the name Redstart has been not unfittingly bestowed upon a bird which has some curious outward resemblance, both in looks and manners, to that of the Old Country, though the two arc in the opinion of some systematists nearly as widely separated from each other as truly Passerine birds well ran be. The American Redstart is the Setophaga ruticilla of authors, belonging to the purely New- World family AfniotiltidS; and to a genus which con- tains about a dozen species, ranging from Canada (in summer) to Bolivia. The wonderful likeness, coupled of course with many sharp distinctions, upon which it would be here impossible to dwell, between the birds of these two genera of perfectly distinct origin, is a matter that must compel every evolutionist to admit that we are as yet very far from penetrating the action of Creative Power, and that especially we are wholly ignorant of the causes which in some instances produce analogy. (A. N.) REDWING, Swedish Rddvinge, Danish Roddrossel, Ger- man Rothdrossel, Dutch Koperuriek, a species of THRUSH (q.v. the Turdus iliacus of authors, which is an abundant winter visitor to the British Islands, arriving in autumn generally about the same time as the FIELDFARE (vol. ix. p. 142) does. This bird has its common English name 3 from the sides of its body, its inner wing-coverts, and axil- laries being of a bright reddish -orange, of which colour, however, there is no appearance on the wing itself while the bird is at rest, and not much is ordinarily seen -while it is in flight. In other respects it is very like a Song- Thrush, and indeed in France and some other countries it bears the name Mauvis or Mavis, often given to that species in some parts of Britain ; but its coloration is much more vividly contrasted, and a conspicuous white, instead of a light brown, streak over the eye at once affords a ready diagnosis. The Redwing breeds in Iceland, in the sub- alpine and arctic districts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and thence across Northern Russia and Siberia, becoming scarce to the eastward of the Yenissei, and not extending beyond Lake Baikal. In winter it visits the whole of Europe and North Africa, occasionally reaching Madeira, while to the eastward it is found at that season in the north-western Himalayas and Kohat. Many writers have praised the song of this bird, comparing it with that of the NIGHTINGALE (vol. xvii. p. 498) ; but herein they seem to have been as much mistaken as in older times was Linnaeus, who, according to Nilsson (Orn. Svecica, i. p. 177, note), failed to distinguish in life this species from its commoner congener T. imtsicus. The notes of the Redwing are indeed pleasing in places where no better songster exists ; but the present writer, who has many times heard them under very favourable circumstances, cannot but suppose that those who have called the Redwing the " Nightingale " of Nor- way or of Sweden have attributed to it the credit that properly belongs to the Song-Thrush ; for to him it seems that the vocal utterances of the Redwing do not place it even in the second rank of feathered musicians. Its nest 3 Many old writers assert that this bird used to be known in England as the " Swinepipe " ; but, except in books, this name does not seem to survive to the present day. There is no reason, however, to doubt that it was once in vogue, and the only question is how it may have arisen. If it has not been corrupted from the German Weindrossd or some other similar name, it may refer to the soft inward whistle which tlie bird often utters, resembling the sound of the pipe used by the swineherds of old when collecting the animals under their charge, whether in the wide stubbles or the thick beech-woods ; but another form of the word (which may, however, be erroneous) is " Windpipe," and this might lead to a conclusion very different, if indeed to any conclusion at all. "Whindle" and "Wheenerd" have also been given as two other old English names of this bird (ffarl. Miscellany, 1st ed., ii. p. 558), and these may be referred to the local German Weindrustle and Winsd.