292 SAXICOLA (ENANTHE. 



Length to end of tail 6^ inches ; extent of wings II5 ; bill 

 along the ridge 6^ twelfths ; along the edge of lower mandible 

 ^^ ; wing from flexure 3jJ ; tarsus 1 ; middle toe and claw j|. 



Variations. — In adult individuals the variations of colour 

 are considerable, some having the upper parts of a purer grey 

 than others, and the lower parts more white. But these dif- 

 ferences are chiefly dependent upon age, the grey and white 

 becoming purer, and the black and brown deeper in old birds, 

 and upon the season at which specimens are obtained, those 

 shot towards the end of summer being more purely coloured 

 than those procured in spring, when the tips of the feathers are 

 more or less complete. Individuals are seen of much larger 

 size than others, and these I have usually found in the hilly 

 districts. 



Changes. — The changes which the plumage undergoes in 

 the individual arise from the wearing of the edges of the fea- 

 thers, in consequence of which the grey of the back is lighter 

 and more uniform the nearer the period of moult. 



Habits. — The Stonechat is the earliest of our summer visi- 

 tants, arriving generally about the middle of March, but in 

 some seasons considerably later or earlier. I have seen it near 

 Edinburgh on the 28th of February, more commonly, however, 

 about the 20th of March, while in the Outer Hebrides it does 

 not appear before the middle of April. It immediately be- 

 takes itself to open dry pastures, whether in the vicinity of the 

 sea, or in the interior, but always in places where it can retreat 

 to holes or cavities, whether among stones or in the ground. It 

 is generally distributed in such localities, being to be found 

 equally in the southern parts of England, and in the most 

 northern districts of Scotland, and is nowhere more plentiful 

 than in the Outer Hebrides, and in the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands. Along the coast, especially on sandy downs, where 

 there are rabbit-warrens, or at least abrupt banks, it is most 

 frequent ; but in the valleys of the midland districts, especially 

 where there are extensive stone or turf fences, it is by no means 



