TURDIX.t. 



29 



THE STONECHAT. 



PratIncola rubicola (Linngeus). 



Unlike the preceding migratory species, the Stonechat is a 

 resident in the greater part of our islands, although a partial 

 movement takes place from the colder to the more sheltered 

 situations in winter ; at which season there is an influx of visitors 

 from those parts of the Continent where the climate is too severe to 

 allow of a stay. The Stonechat is somewhat local in its distribution 

 and also erratic ; frequenting a place for a few seasons, and then 

 suddenly abandoning it. It breeds sparingly in the Orkneys, and is 

 only a visitor to the Shetlands, but it is found to the extreme 

 western limits of the Outer Hebrides, for I observed it on St. Kilda 

 in August 1 886. In Ireland it is common and resident. 



The northern range of the Stonechat in Europe is no:: neaily so 

 extensive as that of the Whinchat, and scarcely reaches to the south 

 of Sweden ; while in the north of Germany the bird is uncommon 

 beyond the Elbe and unknown beyond theWeser,as well as of irregular 

 distribution. In Central Europe it is unaccountably local ; but in 

 the south it is common, breeding in Spain even in the hot plains 

 below Seville. Migrants from the north go down in winter to the 

 shores and islands of the Mediterranean, North Africa, Asia Minor, 

 and Palestine ; and examples have been obtained to the south of 

 Senegal. In South Africa the representative species is P. torquata, 

 with white rump and deeper chestnut on the breast ; North-eastern 



