HEDGE CHANTER. 257 



(low, when I resided at Lauriston near Edinburgh, I have 

 again and again heard the male, about eleven o'clock, in the 

 darkest evenings of autumn and winter, and even when it was 

 cold and frosty, go through his usual notes. At the regularity 

 of the time when he poured them forth, I have often been 

 astonished." Possibly this regularity may have depended uj)on 

 that of my friend, who in retiring to bed may have sent a 

 blaze of light through his window upon the hedge. 



" The Hedge Chanter," says Mr Hepburn, " commences 

 singing about the 20th of February. I have seen its nest and eggs 

 by the beginning of April. Often two broods are raised in the 

 season. I have often seen it sitting on the very top of a tree 

 about tM'enty-five feet high, singing its sweet notes eight or 

 nine times in succession ; but during cold windy weather, it sel- 

 dom repeats it so often. The female sits eleven days." 



Young. — When fully fledged, the young have the bill and 

 feet light brownish-red ; the plumage of the upper parts con- 

 fusedly mottled with dusky and light brownish-red, the tips of 

 the feathers being of the latter colour ; the quills dusky-brown, 

 with broad light-red edges, the secondary coverts tipped with 

 dull white ; the tail-feathers brown with light-reddish mar- 

 gins ; the lower parts light greyish-yellow, streaked with duslcy ; 

 the ear-coverts dusky, with a light central streak. 



Remarks. — Although the bill of this bird is not properly 

 speaking conical, nor by any means stouter than that of many 

 Saxicolinae, it yet approaches in form to that of the Deglubi- 

 tores, and as its food consists for the most part of seeds, it is 

 certainly allied to that order, and in its own group may be 

 considered as representing them. This observation applies 

 with still more force to the next species, which some authors 

 have considered as a Warbler, others as a Starling or a Finch. 



VOL. 11. 



