222 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



coast and the foot-hills and lower moors, just above the zone of 

 cultivation. The male is a conspicuous bird with black head, 

 white collar and shoulder patch contrasting with a rich chestnut 

 breast. He perches in full view on the top of the gorse bushes, 

 the look-out from which he guards the nest. Where a telegraph 

 wire crosses his haunts this gives a better post of vantage. If 

 approached he flits from bush to bush, jerking his tail, and with 

 cries of tsak^ tsak^ or wee-tac, iac, strives to draw us from the 

 danger zone. The alarm note has a curious ring, like the 

 sound of pebbles struck together, and from this the bird gets 

 its name. When perched his tail is ever in motion, and his 

 plump and sturdy body is jerked and bobbed constantly. In 

 autumn many usual haunts are deserted, and single birds appear 

 in unexpected places, but the extent of the autumnal and winter 

 wanderings is irregular. On the west coast numbers remain 

 near the shore or travel westward, for in Ireland the Stonechat 

 population is greater in winter than in summer. I have seen a 

 winter visitor perch on a tali tree, though trees are infrequent 

 in its usual haunts. Most of these wanderers are solitary 

 males, but birds which winter on or near the sand-dunes of the 

 west coast are evidently paired. During the hard winter of 

 1916-17 many remained on the Lancashire coast and survived. 

 The birds return to their breeding haunts in February and 

 March, and, at any rate, in northern counties, males and 

 females often arrive together. The male is conservative in his 

 choice of observation post, and both male and female have 

 particular perches when bringing food to their young, a habit 

 noticeable in many species. The hen has also a route through 

 the herbage by which she travels, unseen, to and from the 

 nest. 



The song is short and irregular but characteristic, a series of 

 sweet notes rapidly repeated ; it may be sung on the wing, but 

 usually from the top of a bush or other elevated perch ; it is 

 continued from March until late in June. Flies and moths are 



