IV. 



CHATS, ROBINS AND WARBLERS. 



In spring, and again in autumn, wheatears 

 pass through, and may be seen about for 

 several days at a time. In April and May, 

 1908, a pair stayed so long in some rough 

 ground near the bank of the Ship Canal that 

 I thought they might be going to take up their 

 quarters there for the season, but by May 3ist 

 they had disappeared. 



We always have a fair number of whin- 

 chats in the meadows, and hardly a year 

 passes without seeing them on the grass in 

 the garden itself. One very wet summer, 

 when in the low-lying lands the haycocks 

 were standing for days surrounded by water, 

 I remember being struck by the number of 

 whinchats to be seen perching and chatting 

 first on one haycock and then on another. 



Though whinchats are so comparatively 

 common, and their usual note, exactly like the 

 knocking of two pebbles together, is con- 

 stantly heard, their pretty little song, a 

 cadence of a few notes repeated over and 

 over again, I do not remember to have 

 noticed here. 



Only once have I seen a stonechat in the 

 neighbourhood of this garden. This was in 

 October, 1890. On the opposite side of the 

 river the land had been raised by material 



