Perching Birds. 



79 



THE WHINCHAT. 

 (Piatincola rubetra.) 



to the basal third. In habits and in the choice of a nesting-place it resembles 

 the other species, and the eggs are greenish blue with reddish brown spots. 



This little bird is a summer visitor to Great Britain, 

 arriving early in May from its winter home in West Africa 

 and North-east Africa. It nests in all parts of Great 

 Britain, but is more local and rarer in some counties than in others. Its nesting 

 range e.xtends east to the Ural Mountains, and it even reaches beyond the Arctic 

 Circle. In the South of Europe it is mostly found on migration and breeds only in 

 the mountains. The Whinchat belongs to a little group of birds peculiar to the Old 

 World, having broader bills and more abundant rictal bristles, in which respect 

 they resemble the Flycatchers, and are like the latter birds in their habits. The 

 general aspect of the male Whinchat is rufous, with a white wing-patch, formed of the 

 white inner median and greater wing coverts ; the tail-feathers are white with a broad 

 band of brown on their terminal third ; the sides of the face are black, surmounted by 

 a broad white eyebrow ; the cheeks and chin are white and this e.xtends on to the side 

 of the neck, skirting the cinnamon-rufous colour of the throat and breast, the rest of 

 the under surface of the bod)' being sandy buff. The female is not so brightly coloured 

 as the male, the sides of the face being browner, and the rufous on the throat and 

 breast not so bright. The flight of the Whinchat is very rapid, as it flits from one 

 furze bush to another, and perches invariably on the topmost bough. It frequents 

 commons and the slopes of rough hills and downs, and the nest is well concealed, 

 being generally placed in the grass under a bush, and approached by a run or small 

 tunnel. In the mountains of Norwaj' it nests on the high fjelds, choosing the thickets 

 of rough bushes and small birch-trees which may be found on the edges of some of 

 the swamps and generally in the vicinity of the hay-fields, where there is an abundance 

 of insect food. The hen bird is very seldom seen and it is only by driving her o!f the 

 nest that the latter is 

 usually discovered. The 

 eggs are greenish-blue, 

 with minute specks of 

 reddish-brown. 



THE STONECHAT. 

 {Prntuuolti yjibicola.) 



Though of similar 

 habits to the Whin- 

 chat, the Stonechat is 

 a much darker bird and 

 can be distinguished 

 by its black head and 

 the white patch on the 



Tin: Whinchat. 



The Stonkchat. 



