224 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



above and below, and have broad buff marg-ins to the quills and 

 tail feathers ; after the first autumn moult they resemble the 

 females and are some time in gaining full white patches and 

 collars. At all ages the Stonechat is a stouter, more erect bird 

 than the Whinchat, but the immature plumages are confusing. 

 Length, 5 ins. Wing, 2-5 ins. Tarsus, -85 in. 



Indian Stonechat. Saxkola 'mdica Elyth. 



This blacker Stonechat, with an unspotted white rump, gets 

 its name from its winter quarters, but its breeding haunts are in 

 Siberia and northern Asia. It has been recorded from 

 Norfolk and the Isle of May. Length, 5 ins. Wing, 2-65 ins. 

 Tarsus, '8 in. 



Whinchat. Saxicola mheira (Linn.). 



The Whinchat (Plate 92) breeds throughout northern and 

 central Europe, and winters from southern Europe to tropical 

 Africa. In the British Isles it is a summer visitor, usually 

 arriving rather late in April, and has a wide though local 

 distribution, rather thin in Ireland. It has been reported as 

 wintering, but in some cases may have been confused with the 

 Stonechat. 



Open meadows in the lowlands, commons and gorse-clad 

 wastes, marshes and rough pastures up to over 1000 feet, are 

 the haunts of the Whinchat, a stout, short-tailed bird, less erect 

 in carriage and robust in build than the Stonechat. The eye- 

 stripe, white and conspicuous in the male, yellower in the 

 female, and white patches on the wing, especially that on the 

 primaries of the male, are points by which it may be known, 

 but its more horizontal pose when perched and the white base of 

 the tail — not to be confused with the white rump of the other 

 bird, are specific characters. In many tricks and habits the 



