46 THE STONECHAT. 



autumn at the side of the Tweed near Paxton Toll. The 

 food of this bird consists of worms and insects, varied with 

 small seeds of several kinds. With regard to its song, 

 Mr. Seebohm says : — " In spring, when all nature seems 

 reviving under the cheerful beams of a brighter sun, the 

 Stonechat's melody is amongst the first to inform us of the 

 change of season. It is the first music heard on the up- 

 lands except indeed that of the Skylark. Long before the 

 Meadow Pipits are in song, or the Buntings chant their 

 monotonous music, the little Stonechat may be heard to 

 pour forth his cheering notes. The little creature starts, 

 may be from a spray of broom, which rebounds and quivers 

 as he leaves it, and, fluttering in the air, he utters his music 

 and retires to his perch again. His song is, like his flight, 

 short and irregular." ^ 



It usually builds its nest^ towards the end of April 

 or beginning of May, placing it on the ground at the bot- 

 tom of some whin, juniper, or other moorland bush, and 

 sometimes in a tuft of heather. The nest is composed of 

 dry grass, moss, hair, and a few feathers, and the eggs, 

 which are generally five or six in number, are of a pale 

 bluish green colour, closely mottled with fine pale reddish 

 brown specks. This species may be easily recognised, 

 amongst the little birds of our wild deans and moorlands, 

 by its nearly black head and throat, and the white patch on 

 each side of its neck. 



1 Seebohm, History of British Birds, vol. i. p. 319. 



2 In some parts of Scotland tlie "Stanechacker" is exempted from the woes 

 and pains of harrying, in consequence of a malediction which the bird itself is 

 fancifully supposed to be always pronouncing — 



Stane-cliack ! 

 Deevil tak ! 



They wha harry my nest 



Will never rest, 



Will meet the pest ! 

 De'll brack their lang back, 

 Wha my eggs wad tak, tak ! 

 R. Chambers, Popular Rhymes of Scotland, new ed., p. 189. 



