92 Bird-keeping. 



The CHATS, of which there are three English species, 

 the STONECHAT, WHINCHAT, and WHEATEAR, belong 

 to another tribe of the Erythacinse. They are all men- 

 tioned by Mr. Kidd and Bechstein as cage birds, but 

 as their native haunts are amongst wild and solitary 

 moorlands, wastes, and extensive downs and commons, 

 desolate steppes and deserts, one cannot imagine them 

 well placed in a cage or aviary ; the latter would be 

 the best abode for them, as they are by nature very 

 active, lively birds, constantly flitting about the furze 

 or whin-bushes, and keeping up a continual chatter. 

 Their natural food is insects and beetles. If kept in 

 confinement, they must have abundance of these 

 crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, flies, caterpillars, 

 etc, as well as the food recommended for Nightin- 

 gales. The young birds may be reared from the nest 

 on bread and milk, ants' eggs, and mealworms, and 

 will learn other birds' songs. The Stonechat is a 

 resident in England ; the other two are migratory 

 birds. The Wheatear is the most generally distri- 

 buted throughout Great Britain ; in some counties it 

 is so plentiful in the summer, that some hundreds are 

 caught and killed as delicacies for the table. They 

 are very pretty birds : the upper part of the body is 

 silver grey ; they have black wings and white and 

 black tails, and a black streak passes from the beak 

 to the ear ; the breast is orange-buff, the lower part of 

 the body white. The female is not so handsome as 



