336 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



BRITISH-STONECHAT [Pratincola torquata hibernans, Hartert. 

 Purzechat, stoneclink, stonehacker, winter-utick. French, tarier ; German, 

 Wiesenschmatzer ; Italian, stiaccino]. 



1. Description. Distinguished at all ages and in both sexes from the whin- 

 chat by the remicle (bastard quill), which is much longer than the major coverts 

 of the primaries. (PL 41.) The male, in nuptial dress, has the head and back 

 black, relieved by white upper tail-coverts, a large white patch over the bases of 

 the inner secondaries, and at the side of the neck. The prepectoral region is of 

 a rich chestnut, paler on the flanks ; while the breast and abdomen are of a dull 

 buff, or buff-white. Length, 5'3 in. [135 mm.]. After the autumn moult heavy 

 brown fringes mask the black of the upper parts, and the white of the upper tail- 

 coverts which have a sub-terminal oval spot of black and a dark shaft-streak 

 is concealed by rust-colour. In many cases these brown fringes are never wholly 

 lost. The female after the autumn moult is of a wood-brown above, passing into 

 ochreous on the back, and rufous on the upper tail-coverts relieved by more or 

 less distinct dull black striations. As the season advances, the brown hue is 

 reduced by abrasion producing the summer dress in which the upper parts 

 appear more distinctly and more heavily striated. The white wing-patch is 

 smaller than in the male. The throat in old females is black, and there is a 

 trace of the white patch at the side of the neck. Generally heavy broAvn 

 fringes mask the black throat and the white neck-patch. The fore-breast is of a 

 pale chestnut brown, the lower breast and abdomen brownish buff. The young 

 in the first or juvenile plumage are of a dark sepia marked with broad striations of 

 pale brown. The tail-coverts are rufous. The inner secondaries are dark brown, 

 with broad margins of rufous brown. The fore-breast is of a light ochreous buff, 

 mottled with dark brown and rufous ; flanks, breast, and abdomen pale wood- 

 brown. The young stonechat differs from the young whinchat in having no 

 white at the base of the tail, and in lacking black striations on the inter- 

 scapulars, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. Some form of stonechat is to be found throughout the 

 greater part of the European, Asiatic, and African continents. Two, if not three 

 forms occur in Great Britain. The Siberian-stonechat (P. torquata maura) is a 

 very rare visitor. The continental form (P. torquata rubicola) occurs possibly as 

 a migrant (see Migration). Our British local race is P. torquata hibernans, Hart. ; 

 it is confined to the British Isles, where it is a somewhat local resident, especially 





