THE WHINCHAT. 



As we wander over the fields when smiling in their 

 early summer garb, we ofttimes see a little bird, dressed 

 out in gay attire, flitting from spray to spray, and 

 Qccasionally alighting on the tallest stems of herbage, 

 all the time uttering a monotonous note of u-tac, ti-tac, 

 u-tac-tac-tac. It is the little Whinchat, cousin to the 

 little bird dressed out in still gayer plumage, and whose 

 home is on the barren moor^ the sprightly Stonechat to 

 wit. But though the Whinchat occurs abundantly 

 in almost every grass field, still he is found on the 

 wastes of heather on the outskirts of the moorland, or 

 in the large coverts of gorse or whin he finds a home. 

 Perhaps from his frequenting the whin covers he has 

 obtained his name of ' Whin ' chat, a name, by the way, 

 very applicable. 



The Whinchat is a somewhat shy and wary little 

 creature, always endeavouring to keep a certain distance 

 away from the observer. They inhabit hedgerows and 



