THE STONECHAT AND WHINCHAT 407 



week in May, and continues passing through till the end of that 

 month. The return journey usually takes place during the latter half 

 of September. 



On a cool, crisp September morning, during the second week 

 of this month, I have seen the sand-dunes on the east coast alive 

 with Greenland-wheatears, eagerly in quest of food, which they 

 search for at low tide on the edges of mud flats, or amongst the 

 coarse herbage of the dunes. They may remain a few hours, or most 

 of the day, before continuing their journey south. Perhaps the 

 fact that their breeding-places are in high northern latitudes, where 

 the Arctic summer-day consists of from twenty to twenty-two hours, 

 and the consequent extension of their feeding-time, may account 

 for the larger size and increased brilliancy of this race. 



THE STONECHAT AND WHINCHAT 



[E. L. TURNER] 



On our furze and heather-clad commons the two chats, 

 though local in their distribution, are by no means rare, but 

 the stonechat 1 is most readily seen, because the cock is a con- 

 spicuous object as he stands on the highest point of some gorse 

 bush defiant in attitude, resplendent in ruddy chestnut waistcoat, 

 immaculate white collar, and black cap ; there, with scolding call- 

 note and angry jerkings of his tail, he protests vigorously against 

 the sin of prying curiosity which induces unwelcome visitors to search 

 for the carefully hidden nest it has been the one aim and object 

 of himself and his more soberly attired mate to screen from public 

 view. 



He seldom flies to any distance, but flits from bush to bush, 

 alighting daintily on the topmost twig, which sways and looks as if it 



1 The name " stonechat " is misleading, and suggests bare desert places, whereas this bird's 

 favourite habitat is in heather and gorse-clad commons ; but it really owes this name to the 

 similarity of its alarm-note to the striking together of two pebbles. 



