14 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



The male in his wedding dress, with jet black 

 head, white collar, and ferruginous breast, is 

 extremely handsome ; and the artist who is 

 fond of depicting bird-life would scarcely find 

 a prettier subject than a male Stonechat in this 

 plumage upon a spray of furze in full bloom. 



In Ireland the Stonechat is considered to be 

 a resident species, and this is attributed by Mr. 

 Thompson to the mild winters of that island. 

 In Scotland, on the contrary, Sir Wm. Jardine 

 has observed that the Stonechat is not nearly 

 so abundant as either the Whinchat or the 

 Wheatear, and frequents localities of a more 

 wild and secluded character. It ranges, how- 

 ever, to the extreme north of the mainland of 



Scotland, and is included by Dr. Dewar in his 



% 

 list of birds which he found nesting in the 



Hebrides. It is said not to breed in either 

 Orkney or Shetland. 1 



The geographical range of the Stonechat is 

 rather more extensive than that of the Whin- 



1 Cf. More, " Ibis," 1865, p. 22. 



