attention by the large areas of white displayed in the wing 
and tail. 
The redstart, one of our summer visitors, is a bird which can 
never be mistaken. A sight of the russet-red tail alone suffices. 
But the cock has the further glory of a mantle of grey, a black head 
and russet under parts. He is fond of country rich in old 
timber, or hill-sides, where stone walls attract him. His kinsman, 
the wheatear, returns to us in the early spring ; to give an added 
charm to our bare hill-sides, and warrens, sea-cliffs, sand-dunes, 
and waste places.. If you see a small bird flying low over the 
ground, with a white rump, and black wings, you may know that 
the wheatear is before you. That delightful, restless little bird, 
the stonechat, is a near relation of the wheatear. He too, is fond 
of waste places, and heaths ; more especially such as will provide 
him with plenty of furze bushes, or ling, on the topmost twigs of 
which he loves to perch, flitting his tail and uttering his fussy 
little notes ‘“ hweet-chat, hweet-chat.” On the wing you may 
tell him by his conspicuous white wing-patch, and the broad 
blaze of white on his neck, set off by a jet-black head. The female 
and young lack the bright chestnut on the breast. The stone- 
chat’s cousin, the whinchat, may be found in similar situations, 
but he is of a more roving disposition, and may be found also in 
lowland pasture and water-meadows. More slender in form, he 
is further to be distinguished by the dark streaks down his back, 
id 
