THE STONECHAT. 105 



'd we loiter about will treat us in exactly the same way, 

 but, if we pass on steadily, will take little notice of us. 



We have little more to say of the Stonechat. It is not 

 often heard to sing ; the reason probably being that, when 

 listeners are in the way, it is too anxious about its nest tc 

 be musical. Its food is principally insects, which it often 

 catches on the wing. In winter (for they do not all leave 

 us at this season) it feeds on worms, &c. Its nest is re- 

 markable more from its size and position (usually in the 

 centre of a furze-bush), than for neatness of structure. It 

 lays five eggs. Its name Rubicola denotes a dweller among 

 brambles, and is by no means inappropriate, as it rarely 

 perches on any bush exceeding a bramble in size. Its 

 names Stonechat, Stoneclink or Stonechatter, are evidently 

 to be traced to the similarity between its note of alarm and 

 the striking together of two pebbles. 



THE WHIXCHAT. 



SAXICOLA RUBJETRA. 



Upper plumage dusky brown, edged with reddish yellow ; over the eye a broad 

 white streak ; throat and sides of the neck white ; neck and breast bright 

 yellowish red ; a large white spot on the wings and base of the tail ; extremity 

 of the latter and the whole of the two central feathers dusky brown ; abdomen 

 and flanks yellowish white. i?'c?9ia;c— yellowish white wherever the male is 

 pure white ; the white spot on the wings smaller ; the red parts dingy. Length 

 five inches ; breadth nine inches. Eggs bluish green, often minutely speckled 

 with light brownish red. 



A GREAT deal that we have said of the Stonechat, will 

 apply equally well to the Whinchat, as the two birds 

 much resemble each other in characters, size, and habits. 

 There is this difference, however, between them, that a con- 

 siderable number of Stonechats remain in Britain during the 

 whiter, whereas the Whinchats, almost to a bird, leave our 

 shores in the autumn. The latter is by no means so common, 

 and is rarely seen except in wild places where the shrub is 

 abundant from which it derives its name of Whinchat, or 

 Furzechat. For a small bird to have black legs is, it seems, 



