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CHAPTER VI. 



STONE-CHATS, HEDGE AND ALPINE ACCENTORS, WHINCHAT, 

 BLACK-HEADED BUSHCHAT, WHEATEAR. 



THE Saxicoline Birds, or Stonechats, and their allied 

 species, form a tolerably large group, some of which 

 are placed in other families by authors who do not recognise 

 the principles of arrangement which have guided Mac- 

 gillivray. ' The Saxicoline^ he says, ' reside chiefly in stony 

 places and open pastures, especially those covered with 

 small shrubs ; but some of them frequent woods. On the 

 ground they advance by hopping. Their ordinary flight is 

 moderately rapid, and somewhat undulated. They search 

 for food on the ground, in vales, or among thickets, and 

 often pursue insects on wing. Their nests are large, and 

 lined with soft materials, and the prevailing colour of their 

 eggs is blue. Most of them are migratory, and those which 

 are permanently resident, shift their quarters, frequenting the 

 neighbourhood of houses in winter.' 



Closely allied to the Thrushes and Larks, and blending 

 directly with the Warblers, they present no abrupt and de- 

 cided characters which could enable a student at once to refer 

 a species to the family, and for this reason it is that their 

 position has ever been somewhat variable and uncertain. 

 In this country we have five genera, represented by nine 

 species, which we now proceed to describe. 



THE HEDGE CHANTER (Accentor modularis), more com- 

 monly called the Hedge Sparrow, Hedge Warbler, or 

 Dunnock ; sometimes Dick Dunnock or Shuffle-wing. A 

 familiar, gentle, and modest little bird this, with sober 

 plumage of mingled grey and brown, quiet, unobtrusive 

 manners, and a weak but pleasantly modulated song ; 

 common enough in all our gardens, fields, and hedges, and 



