BLUETHROAT, a bird, Luscinia suecica, allied to the nightingale, but with a blue throat, a dark brown and chestnut tail and a beautiful song. In habits it is shy and skulking. It haunts thickets of birch and willow, especially when swampy, and nests on the ground. Five to seven grey-green eggs, speckled with red-brown, are laid in late June. The bird breeds in northern and central Europe and Asia, migrating to Africa and India in winter. In the white-spotted bluethroat (L. cyanecula), the patch on the blue throat is white instead of rufous. It breeds in central Europe.