Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/196

 gow steamer, has the tail tipped with black, which colour prevails particularly on the outer web of the feathers : this is mentioned, as in the descriptions which I have referred to, there is no notice of the black colour. In a continental specimen of P. Suecica examined at the same time, the lower half of the tail is black, the upper half red, of the same hue as in the tail of P. tithgs, and that of other redstarts.

It appears singular, that some of the birds noticed should have been met with so late in the year, indeed, even in winter, but in England they have similarly occurred, — the only individuals there obtained, in connection with which particulars are given, are three in number, and the months of their occurrence, October, Decem- ber, and January, in different years. The years in which they were taken in England, namely, 1829, 1830, 1833 and 1835, are all different from those in which the specimens were procured in Ireland: this is against the ordinary rule.

In the summer of 1826, I had the pleasure of seeing tins species in secluded and rocky pastures of the Ehsetian Alps, and at the end of August, met with it in France.

The Blue Throated Redstart {P. Suecica), of which six* indi- viduals have been obtained in various parts of England, from north to south, has not occurred in Scotland (Jard. ; Macg.), nor in Ireland.

Saxicola rubicola, Linn. (sp.) Motacilla Sylvia Lath.

places producing shrubby plants are its favourite haunts. Around Belfast it equally frequents the old ditch-banks, covered with the sloe, bramble, &c, surrounding the lowest-lying meadows, and the furze (whins), or other cover on the mountain sides.f

Yarr. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 254. 2nd edit.

The name of stone-checker (not stone-chat) is more commonly applied to the wheatear than to this species, in the north of Ireland, where, as well as in some parts of the south, it is called black-cap. Mr. Macgillivray has well observed, that "it does not frequent stony or rocky places," vol. ii. p. 282.