PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 335 



2. Distribution. Generally distributed over the British Isles and the greater 

 part of Europe, but absent from the high north, the greater part of the Iberian 

 peninsula and Greece, while local forms occur in Dalmatia and the Caucasus. In 

 the British Isles it is scarce in Cornwall, only occurs on passage in South Ireland, 

 and is absent from some parts of Scotland and rare in the Outer Hebrides and 

 Orkneys, while it is only a rare straggler to the Shetlands. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Leaving occasional exceptional instances out of considera- 

 tion, the whinchat is a summer visitor to those parts of our islands wherein it 

 breeds, and a bird of passage to and from those parts in some others, such as the 

 south of Ireland. A few stragglers may appear in March, but the first important 

 arrivals are in the second half of April in the south of England and the first half of 

 May in the north of Scotland. The return movement commences in August, and 

 all but a few stragglers have left by early October. The spring immigrants arrive 

 from the Continent in a series of " waves " on the coasts of the south-eastern 

 counties of England, and thence spread over the whole of England and Wales. 

 Details are lacking of the autumn migration in England and Wales, and of both 

 migrations in the other parts of the area. The whinchat travels in small parties. 

 (See further, B. 0. C. Migration Reports, i. pp. 25-27 ; ii. pp. 39-41 ; iii. pp. 46-49 ; 

 and iv. pp. 53-56; N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, p. 20.) [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is generally placed on the ground in mowing 

 grass or at the bottom of some small bush, and composed of dried grasses and a 

 little moss, lined with a cup of finer grasses and cow or horse-hair. (PI. xv.) 

 Whether the male assists the hen in building appears to be unrecorded. Eggs, 

 5, or more commonly 6, rarely 7 in number : rather deep greenish blue, generally 

 with fine specks of rusty brown especially towards the big end. (PI. C.) Average 

 size of 100 eggs, '73 x -56 in. [18'6 x 14'37 mm.]. They are seldom laid before the 

 second or third week of May, and incubation, which lasts about 14 days, is chiefly 

 if not wholly, performed by the hen. Howard Saunders says that two broods are 

 reared, but many pairs appear only to nest once. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Chiefly insects and their larvae, spiders, also according to 

 H. Saunders (Manual, p. 28) worms and small molluscs. The young are fed by 

 both parents chiefly on insects and their larvae, and no doubt also spiders. 



[E. L. T.] 



6. Song Period. From about the end of April to the end of June. 



[E. L. T.] 



