THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
railings or on the topmost spray of an evergreen bush, 
occasionally fluttering into the air in chase of an insect, or 
hopping about the gravel paths. 
The Whinchat is a late migrant, not reaching its 
summer haunts in the Metropolitan area before the 
second half of April. Its favourite resorts here are 
grass-meadows, heaths, and the patches of gorse and broom 
on commons, railway banks, and similar open places. It 
leaves them for the south in September. This is another 
easily recognised species, from its persistent habit of perch- 
ing on some tall weed in the meadows or on the top of 
a bush or upon a telegraph wire and monotonously uttering 
a double note of u-tac, which is frequently accompanied 
by a flick of the wings and tail. When approached it flits 
off in an uneven manner to another stem or bush, and again 
repeats its cry. Its food chiefly consists of tiny worms, 
insects, and larve, but in late summer it varies its diet 
with soft corn. ‘The male utters a short and unassuming 
little song, often whilst in the air, to which both sexes 
frequently resort in chase of insects. ‘The Whinchat is 
seen in pairs soon after its arrival, and the eggs are laid 
in May or early June. ‘The nest is either made amongst 
the meadow grass, amongst the herbage on some bank, 
or more frequently amongst the tangled growth under 
whin or broom bushes. It is a neatly made, cup-like 
structure, loosely put together, formed outwardly of 
dry grass and a little moss, and lined with fine roots and 
horsehair. ‘The five or six eggs are blue, dusted with 
rusty brown freckles, chiefly on the larger end. ‘The 
young and their parents remain in family parties for the 
rest of the summer, migrating apparently in company when 
the moult is completed. Few nests are more difficult to 
find, and the old birds are excessively wary throughout the 
breeding season. Hay-meadows are a favourite resort in 
late summer, and later on turnip-fields. I have also noted 
a more arboreal tendency after the young are reared. 
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