. British birds for cages and aviaries; a hanbook relating to all British birds which may be kept in confinement .. . d tail(with the exception of the central pair of feathers, whichare brown), red; the wings are brown, with lighter margins;the lower half of the breast and the upper half of theabdomen are bright red, fading to grey on the under FOR CAGES AND AVIARIES. 167 tail-coverts, which have a faint slate tinge; the legs andfeet are brownish-slate; the iris, brown. The female is quite different, the prevailing colour inher case being dusky ashen-grey, with a reddish shade onthe rump andta
. British birds for cages and aviaries; a hanbook relating to all British birds which may be kept in confinement .. . d tail(with the exception of the central pair of feathers, whichare brown), red; the wings are brown, with lighter margins;the lower half of the breast and the upper half of theabdomen are bright red, fading to grey on the under FOR CAGES AND AVIARIES. 167 tail-coverts, which have a faint slate tinge; the legs andfeet are brownish-slate; the iris, brown. The female is quite different, the prevailing colour inher case being dusky ashen-grey, with a reddish shade onthe rump andtail, whichgives her agreat resem-blance to thefemaleNight-ingale. Theyoung arespeckled withwhite andorangeon thebreast, andare two yearsold beforethey assumetheir full col-our. A whitevariety hasbeen noticed;Morris re-ported onefrom Glou-cestershire. The Red-start is anative of, atleast is foundin, both Eu-rope (exceptthe extreme north) and The redstart. Western Asia; it is tolerably abundant with us, preferring the vicinity ofhuman habitations to quieter scenes. It has been noticedin several of the London 168 BRITISH BIRDS If kept in the house, the cage should be similar to thatrecommended for the Wheatear; but it looks better in anoutdoor aviary, where a pair will occasionally breed. Itmust be taken into the house before the frost sets in,for it is impatient of cold, arriving here in April, to takeits departure again in September, though a few mayHnger until the first week in October. When wild, the Redstart lives almost entirely oninsects. Morris relates that a pair were observed to feedtheir young twenty-three times in an hour, usually bringingmore than one caterpillar at once; but allowing that oneonly was carried, and taking the day as consisting offourteen hours, the magnificent total of two thousandtwo hundred and fifty-four per week is arrived at. In theautumn, a few berries are partaken of. When kept in acage, it must be fed and treated as recommended in thecas
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectcag
