80 THE WHEATEAR. 



eggs, five or six in number, are of a light greenish blue 

 colour, marked with pale brown toward the larger end. 

 Their average length is eight-twelfths of an inch. 

 Bishop Mant bids us mark 



How on wild moor or sterile heath, 



Bright with the golden furze, beneath 



O'erhanging bush or shelving stone, 



The little Stonechat dwells alone, 



Or near his brother of the whin ; 



Almost the foremost to begin 



His pretty love-song's tinkling sound, 



And nest low seated on the ground, 



Not heedless of the winding pass 



That leads him through the secret grass. 



TVHEATEAR OB STONECHAT. 



THE WHEATEAR OR WHITE-RUMPED STONECHAT (Saxicola 

 cenanthe). This bird, which is the largest of the British 

 Chats, is known by the several names of the White-rump, 

 White-tail, Fallow-smich, Fallow-chat, Stonechat, Stone- 

 chack, and Wheatear, the latter name being derived, asBlyth 

 supposes, from the peculiar note of the bird, which resembles 

 the words wheel-jar, wheet, jar-jar ; this author also opines 

 that the term Stonechat was given to it on account of the 

 noise it makes while hopping about the stones. It is one of 



