. Song birds and seasons . >■ THE RED-START AND THE BLUE-BREAST Although these two birds dilVer ui colour,thcv have nevertheless more than one pointin common : they arc hotli fine singers,^vilh delicate hills and voluble throats anda soft, lovely eye; both are fond of soli-tude. Hying from noise and loving intimacy;they come to us in spring and emigrate \\\ autumn. The red-start, which is called red-wing insome countries, is smaller in size than its cousin the night-ingale; its throat and nccU arc brown, as well as the lineround .is eyes; a brown rr,.nllcl c-overs its forehead; the. 124 THE
. Song birds and seasons . >■ THE RED-START AND THE BLUE-BREAST Although these two birds dilVer ui colour,thcv have nevertheless more than one pointin common : they arc hotli fine singers,^vilh delicate hills and voluble throats anda soft, lovely eye; both are fond of soli-tude. Hying from noise and loving intimacy;they come to us in spring and emigrate \\\ autumn. The red-start, which is called red-wing insome countries, is smaller in size than its cousin the night-ingale; its throat and nccU arc brown, as well as the lineround .is eyes; a brown rr,.nllcl c-overs its forehead; the. 124 THE RED-START top of the head and its back are dark grey, the breast of afine russet red, and this bright hue is repeated on the wholeextent of its tail feathers, excepting the two middle oneswhich are brown. But all these tints are much less markedand much toned down in the female red-start. These birds are especially to be found in mountainousregions ; they prefer to settle down in abandoned huts oron the roofs of empty Ruins attract them; theyharmonize with the wild, untamed disposition of the red-start. There they find ivy-covcrcd walls, tufts of wall-flowers, entangled brambles and briers, under all of whichthey can build their nest in peace. Very often, in theneighbourhood of lake Annecy, in Savoy, whilst I wasclimbing the steep, rocky ascent which leads to therourncftcs, 1 frightened some couples of red-starts, whothought they were quite hidden in safety in these solitarypine forests, where no other noise is to be heard but thefoaming of mountain torrents, and i
Size: 1046px × 2389px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1888
