BLACK-HEADED BUSHCHAT. 283 



and a half, their breadth nearly seven-twelfths. When one 

 approaches their nest, they manifest much anxiety, flutter and 

 flit about, incessantly emitting their sharp snapping note, and 

 endeavouring to lead the intruder off in pursuit of them. The 

 young are abroad about the end of ^lay, or the beginning of 

 June ; but I have not been able to ascertain that two broods 

 are reared in the season. 



In winter I have seen this species about the gardens and even 

 the doors of cottages, apparently not much less familiar than 

 the Robin ; but this happens only in severe weather, for at this 

 season it generally continues in its summer haunts, or betakes 

 itself to thickets and hedges. Its song is short, modulated, 

 and not unpleasant, being very similar to that of the AVhin- 

 chat, and frequently performed while the bird is hovering over 

 a bush. It is seldom heard before the beginning of April, or 

 after the middle of June. 



Mr Weir remarks that in the neighbourhood of Bathgate, 

 in Linlithgowshire, they generally remiain among whins, but 

 that in severe winters they leave them, and retire to swampy 

 situations. " In January 1837,"" he continues, " I saw two or 

 three of them on the public road, within a few yards of a house, 

 in search of fQod. They sit on the highest branch of a whin- 

 bush, cry chert, chert, several times, then rise in the air, and 

 hover like a hawk, while they sing their little song. Of all 

 the nests of which I have been in pursuit, theirs is the most 

 difficult to discover, as it is usually built in the middle of a col- 

 lection of whins, and covered by them. The best way to find 

 it out is to watch the female when she comes off her eggs to 

 take food. Even then she will not go in until you retire to so 

 great a distance that you will scarcely be able to observe her, 

 as she hops so quickly from bush to bush, and then in a mo- 

 ment disappears. I have again and again beat the bush in 

 which they had their nest, before I could make them rise, so 

 closely do they sometimes sit. They build their nest about the 

 middle of April. It is composed of dry grass and moss, lined 

 with hair and feathers, and sometimes with wool. They have 

 commonly six eggs, of a greenish-blue colour, with small spots 

 of reddish -brown at the thicker end. I have seen the brood 



