redstart. With respect to the latter bird (Phoenicura ruticilla), a
writer expresses much surprise how the sitting female could so soon
have given effectual notice that she was a widow, for the species was
not common in the neighbourhood. Mr. Jenner Weir has mentioned to me a
nearly similar case; at Blackheath he never sees or hears the note of
the wild bullfinch, yet when one of his caged males has died, a wild
one in the course of a few days has generally come and perched near the
widowed female, whose call-note is not loud. I will give only one other
fact, on the authority of this same observer; one of a pair of
starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was shot in the morning; by noon a new
mate was found; this was again shot, but before night the pair was
complete; so that the disconsolate widow or widower was thrice consoled
during the same day. Mr. Engleheart also informs me that he used during
several years to shoot one of a pair of starlings which built in a hole
in a house at Blackheath; but the loss was always immediately repaired.
During one season he kept an account, and found that he had shot
thirty-five birds from the same nest; these consisted of both males and
females, but in what proportion he could not say: nevertheless, after
all this destruction, a brood was reared. (6. On the peregrine falcon,
see Thompson, Nat. Hist. of Ireland: Birds, vol. i. 1849, p. 39. On
owls, sparrows, and partridges, see White, Nat. Hist. of Selborne,
edit. of 1825, vol. i. p. 139. On the Phoenicura, see Loudon s Mag. of
Nat. Hist. vol. vii. 1834, p. 245. Brehm ( Thierleben, B. iv. s. 991)
also alludes to cases of birds thrice mated during the same day.)
These facts well deserve attention. How is it that there are birds
enough ready to replace immediately a lost mate of either sex? Magpies,
jays, carrion-crows, partridges, and some other birds, are always seen
during the spring in pairs, and never by themselves; and these offer at
first sight the most perplexing cases. But birds of the same sex,
although of course not truly paired, sometimes live in pairs or in
small parties, as is known to be the case with pigeons and partridges.
Birds also sometimes live in triplets, as has been observed with
starlings, carrion-crows, parrots, and partridges. With partridges two
females have been known to live with one male, and two males with one
female. In all such cases it is probable that the union would be easily
broken; and one of the three would readily pair with a widow or
widower. The males of certain birds may occasionally be heard pouring
forth their love-song long after the proper time, shewing that they
have either lost or never gained a mate. Death from accident or disease
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