410 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



amongst other birds must confer inestimable benefits on the agricul- 

 turist. Mr. Farren, in the paper quoted above, also timed his pair of 

 birds, and found that they fed the young at least twenty times in 

 fifty minutes. My own experience in bird photography tends to 

 prove that all birds are less shy, and more intent on supplying the 

 needs of a clamorous brood between the hours of four and eight A.M. ; 

 afterwards there is a lull, during which the female broods over the 

 young, especially during the earlier stages of their growth ; the male 

 too relaxes his efforts for an hour or two, after which both set to work 

 again vigorously till the noontide heat compels the female again to 

 shelter the young. 



The hen stonechat sits very close when incubating, and unless 

 one can actually flush her from the nest many hours will be spent in 

 searching for the eggs. Even then she seldom flies straight off, but 

 creeps through the tangled bushes till well away from the actual spot 

 where her treasure is concealed. In England two broods are reared 

 in the season, but Macgillivray was unable to discover whether or 

 not this was the case in Scotland. When the young are hatched out 

 the old proverb that " Handsome is as handsome does " is abundantly 

 justified, for the male stonechat proves a good husband and father, 

 tending the young in the majority of cases with great solicitude and 

 fully displaying those qualities which are not invariably found blended 

 with a handsome exterior and overbearing manners. 



Compared with many Passerine birds hedge-sparrows, for instance 

 the young stonechats are a long time before they leave the nest. 

 During May 1909 I watched a nest daily, from the time the young 

 were hatched till well able to take care of themselves. This particular 

 nest was interesting, because the parents had broken away from 

 tradition and built on the open marsh. The composition of the nest 

 itself is worth recording. In addition to the usual materials moss, 

 dry grass and wool it contained two bits of red worsted, a tuft of 

 hare's fur, two moorhen's feathers, horsehair, and some yellowish 

 woolly hair belonging to a foal that roamed this marsh, and whose 



