BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 485 



WHINCHAT. 



(Pratincola rubetra.) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family TURDHVE (THRUSHES). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about five 

 and a quarter inches ; bill rather short, straight, 

 and shiny black. Irides brown. Crown, nape, 

 back, and smaller wing-coverts of two shades of 

 brown, the feathers being dark in the centre and 

 light round the edges ; wings dark brown, the 

 secondaries and tertials being edged with a paler 

 hue ; bastard or spurious wing white ; upper half of 

 tail white ; lower dark brown, edged with a paler 

 tinge of the same colour. From the base of the 

 upper mandible, over the eye and ear-coverts, is a 

 lengthy and rather broad streak of white. From 

 the gape to the eye buff ; chin white, extending 

 beyond the lower margin of the ear-coverts ; throat 

 and breast light chestnut, turning to pale buff on 

 the belly, vent, and under tail-coverts ; legs, toes, 

 and claws black. 



In the female the white over the eye and on 

 the wing is less distinctly marked, and the breast 

 and belly are not so rich in coloration. 



Situation and Locality. On or near the ground 

 in grass-fields, rough pasture land, on commons, 

 at the foot of gorse bushes amongst the thick, 

 tangling grass and dead lower branches ; also 

 amongst heather and coarse herbage. I know 

 several small pastures in Yorkshire where pairs 

 nest regularly year after year. The bird is extremely 

 local, and very wary concerning the betrayal of 

 its nest, which is well hidden ; but I must confess 

 I have not noticed the track or maze it has been 

 reported to make as an approach to its nest. 



