SYLVIADAE. 93 
Wuincuat, Saxicola rubetra. The Whinchat is 
much less numerous in these parts than the Stone- 
chat, which it much resembles in habits: it is, how- 
ever, a much more decided summer visitant, seldom 
arriving before the middle of April; and very few 
instances of its appearance in England during the 
winter months have been recorded. Montagu says 
it is common in this county; and in the eastern 
parts it may be so, but not in our own immediate 
neighbourhood, where its visits are generally few 
and far between, and their duration short, its first 
appearance being immediately after its arrival in 
the spring, and it departs again before the 
breeding season—at least, I have never seen one 
further on in the summer. I have never observed 
it on the Quantock Hills, where the Stonechat is 
numerous. 
Both in the place it selects for its nest and in the 
materials made use of, it much resembles the Stone- 
chat. Meyer says its food consists almost entirely 
of insects, such as flies, bees, beetles and cater- 
pillars, some of which are taken by darting upon 
them from a bush, and others are sought for on the 
ground. 
The beak of the Whinchat is black; irides brown ; 
the feathers of the head and neck black, edged with 
rusty; a white streak extends from the base of the 
upper mandible over the eye ; cheeks and ear-coverts 
black; a streak of white extends from the base of 
