Redstart

Redstart (Ruticilla phecnicura), a European warbler migrating southward in winter. About the middle of April it visits Britain, remaining to breed, and since 1885 it is recorded as having bred in County Wicklow, Ireland. The adult male bird is a little more than five inches long, and has the forehead white, the throat black, the upper surface dark grey, and the breast, sides, and tail rust-red, whence its popular name (from Anglo-Saxon steort, "a tail") and its local name Firetail. It is an insect-eating bird, and the young are fed on caterpillars. The nest, of moss and dry grass lined with hair and feathers, is usually made in holes in trees, walls, or rocks, and the eggs are from Ave to seven, greenish-blue with faint red spots. The Black Redstart (R. titys), also a British visitor, has a more limited range.