STONECHAT. 223 



captured on the wing, the robust little bird dodging swiftly after 

 them with more agility than its build suggests. Seeds are 

 occasionally eaten, but most of the food consists of insects and 

 their larvse, small worms and spiders, and Miss Turner saw one 

 pair bring several young lizards to the nestlings. The argu- 

 ment that the Stonechat is a valuable destroyer of insect pests 

 is rather contradicted by its partiality for spiders and lizards — 

 themselves the foes of insects. 



The nest is cleverly hidden at the foot of a gorse or other 

 bush, in heather or a clump of grass, on or very near the 

 ground ; it is built of moss, grass and roots, with a little wool 

 or fur added at times, and lined with fine bents, hair and a few 

 feathers. The five to six pale blue-green eggs (Plate 79) are 

 often zoned with fine reddish speckles, or are clouded with 

 red ; they are laid as a rule in April, and a second brood is 

 reared. 



One point has often struck me — the great variation in the size 

 of the white shoulder patch and collar of male birds; I have 

 noticed this both in spring and autumn. Probably it is due to 

 age, but cocks with greyish heads and small collars and wing 

 patches apparently mate freely ; sexual selection has but little 

 influence. In spring the male has the head, throat and back 

 black, with brown edges to some of the feathers and with rufous 

 margins to those on the white rump ; the wings and tail are brown. 

 The sides of the neck and throat and a patch on the secondaries 

 are white. The under parts are rich chestnut shading to buff. 

 The bill and legs are black, the irides dark brown. The female 

 is a browner bird with well-marked striations, and the white parts 

 in the male are suffused with rufous. Her throat is mottled 

 with black and her rump is reddish brown. In autumn (as 

 shown in the plate) the male has most of the feathers edged 

 with buff, obscuring the black and restricting the white areas ; 

 these edgings are abraded during winter, leaving the spring 

 dress clear and smart. The young are spotted and streaked 



