80 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
A. Macpherson remembers seeing at Burton's in Wardour Street, some years ago,
a very good specimen killed in Essex. On March 31st, 1889, whilst walking in
company with several other gentlemen, on the top of the cliffs, a little to the north of
Walton-on-the-Naze, I several times obtained a view of an undoubted specimen (29.
April 6). Mr. Ambrose has preserved specimens from Brightlingsea and Harwich,
Red-spotted Blue-throat : Cyanecula suecica.
A rare spring and autumn straggler to Britain, of which I
have only a single record in
Essex. There are two, if not
three, forms of this species
—the one here mentioned
(which alone has been
proved to visit Britain), and
a White-spotted race or sub-
species.*
Mr. Hope informs me that his
keeper at Felixstowe has seen it
near Harwich and has described
it unmistakably to him. It is not
unlikely to have occurred in the
blue-throat, male, 1/3. county on previous occasions.
Robin or Red-breast : Erithacus rubecula.
An abundant and very familiar resident.
W. D. King states (20) that a Robin in his brother's garden at Sudbury
'caught the scream of the Starling, which it imitated at times so exactly as to
instance of its breeding in Essex. The nest in question was built in May, 1888, in a hole, four or
five feet from the ground, in an ivy-covered oak-tree standing a few yards from the door of the
dairy at Danbury Palace. It was first discovered by some village boys, who ultimately caused the
bird to forsake. Before this, however, it was watched by the Hon. Mrs. Ronald Campbell, who
twice saw the bird fly off—"a dark-coloured bird with a red tail." That lady subsequently pre-
sented the nest and two of the four eggs which it originally contained to the Natural History
Museum, South Kensington, where they are still preserved. I have inspected both the nest and
eggs, and in my opinion they are undoubtedly those of a Robin. The white variety of the eggs
of this bird may almost be called common, and I have repeatedly either taken or heard of such in
this district. The nest is composed externally of dead hazel and oak leaves, the interior being
constructed of bents, fine roots, and skeletonized leaves, lined with fine grass and a very little hair.
I consider it a typical Robin's nest in all respects, except that it contains no moss, while the
site, which I have seen, is also exactly what one might expect a Robin to select. The two eggs
which have been preserved differ much in size. The larger, and normal, one measures '8 by
'6 of an inch, almost exactly, these being the average dimensions of Robins' eggs. The other
egg is very much smaller, and is evidently an abnormal egg, such as might be expected from a
weak or injured Robin, laying colourless unspotted eggs. I feel confident that the nest is that of
a Robin, and that the "dark-coloured bird with a red tail," which Mrs. Campbell thought she
saw leave the nest, was a Redstart, with a nest somewhere in the immediate vicinity. The breed-
ing of the Black Redstart in England has been several times recorded on very doubtful grounds,
but never yet satisfactorily established.
* The accompanying cut represents the White-spotted form of this bird, which is known as
C. wolfi, and prevails in Central and Southern Europe.