92 RUDDY-BREASTED BIRDS. 



complete a broad, dark terminal band ; sides of face 

 blackish ; throat, sides of neck, and a broad band over 

 the eye white ; breast yellowy-red. Summer migrant. 



Eggs. — 4-6, greenish-blue, occasionally minutely 

 spotted with reddish - brown at the larger end ; 

 •72 X -6 inch (plate 125). 



Nest. — Of dry grass, lined with root-fibres and 

 hair, usually tucked in a hollow in the ground among 

 thick grass or beneath a small bush. 



Distribution. — England (local in west) and Wales ; 

 fairly general in Scotland ; north of Ireland, pass- 

 ing through the south on migration. 



It will thus be seen that the Whinchat is highly 

 variegated in its markings, whicli include very 

 distinct black and white patches, especially noticeable 

 when the tail is spread in flight. But the surest 

 mark is the broad white eye -band. iVo other bird 

 has so heavy a white eye-hand, unless it be the 

 Redwing, which, however, visits us only in winter, 

 and is a considerably larger bird and like our 

 Throstle. The Wliinchat recalls the Redbreast by 

 the sprightly manner in which it mounts and 

 vacates its perch — some stone or clod, or low post, 

 branch, or rail — turning now one eye, now the 

 other, in scrutiny upon the intruder. In the ploughed 

 fields its motions are those of the Wheatear. It will 

 dart up, capture a passing insect, and break back 

 to its perch, in tlie manner of the Flycatcher. Its 

 habit of rummaging in the grass, hovering over or 

 perching upon some stoute.r weed, is its own, and 

 foreshadows the time when it will build its nest 



