24 Order I 



The female is browner and buff below. The range 

 extends over the whole Palsearctic region from Jan 

 Mayen and Mongolia southwards and even to the 

 Azores, but a larger race inhabits north-east America 

 and Greenland and visits Britain on migration. 



The Whinchat {Saxicola rubetra) is found in rough 

 grassy places of various descriptions, with a preference 

 for moors and newly planted copses ; it is mottled with 

 brown and buff above and is fawn-coloured below, 

 having over the eye a distinct white streak — which is 

 buff in the female — and some white on the wing and tail. 

 The nest, usually placed near the base of a small shrub 

 or large herbaceous plant, is a mossy structure with a 

 lining of fine grass, and contains about six green-blue 

 eggs, generally with rufous spotting. The hen-bird sits 

 very closely, while when disturbed both parents flit 

 before the intruder, perching on the shrubs, and re- 

 peatedly uttering their alarm note of " u-tick." Breed- 

 ing takes place about mid-May, but the bird arrives 

 a month earlier and stays till October. Abroad it 

 ranges through Europe to west Siberia, though it keeps 

 to the hill country in the south. 



The Stonechat {8. rubicola) should really be called 

 the Whinchat or Furzechat, as it is most common 

 among furze, where it may be seen throughout the year, 

 though as a species it is partly migratory. The cock, 

 a brown bird with black head, a ruddy breast, a white 

 patch on the wing and a partial white collar, is very 

 conspicuous as it flits in a fussy way from one perch 

 to another, uttering its clicking notes as a warning to 

 the hen, which is almost brown. The nest is placed 

 among heather, rough grass, or very low gorse, and is 

 made of moss, grass and so forth, with a finer lining ; 



