THE STONECHAT 
cover, is just as alert and watchful, flitting from bush to 
bush when disturbed, persistently uttering its double 
note of wee-chic, accompanied by movements of tail and 
wings. It has the same uneven flight, and a very similar 
little song. ‘The Stonechat, however, often indulges in 
aerial flights much more extended than any I have ever 
seen its congener undertake. In May the male occa- 
sionally takes long soaring flights on flutterings wings, 
from time to time hovering stationary for some moments, 
at a height even of several hundred feet. During 
these flights it will often chase an insect. Its food is 
composed of insects, larva, small worms, and seeds, the 
latter probably enabling the bird to winter in our country. 
It lives in scattered pairs, which apparently do not separate 
after the nesting season. ‘The Stonechat breeds in April 
and May, and the nest is usually placed under the shelter 
of a gorse or other bush, amongst the tall, coarse grass, 
and is cunningly concealed. It is made outwardly of 
dry grass, moss, and roots, lined with hair, feathers, and 
sometimes wool. ‘The five or six eggs are pale bluish 
green, freckled and spotted with reddish brown. During 
the nesting season the birds are exceptionally wary, and 
it requires infinite patience to make them betray the 
site of their home. The birds remain in family parties 
well into the autumn in many cases. 
The Stonechat is a much showier bird than the Whin- 
chat, and bears no great resemblance to any other British 
species. The adult male has the head, throat, and back 
black, the rump white, the under parts rich chestnut, 
paler on the neck and breast; the wings and tail are 
dark brown, the former marked with white. ‘The female 
is far less showy, being browner, and the white parts are 
not so clear. Bill, tarsi, and toes black; irides brown. 
Length 54 inches. ‘The nestling is spotted and marked 
with pale brown, and has no trace of the black throat 
or white patches in the wings. 
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