412 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



In the autumn they leave their inland breeding areas and retire 

 to the coast. In my own neighbourhood they are seldom seen later 

 than October, but twenty miles further south, between the Downs 

 and the sea, I have seen them in the vicinity of farms and sheep- 

 folds in company with gulls, starlings, pied-wagtails, and meadow- 

 pipits diligently following the plough rather lagging behind the 

 larger birds, and flitting from clod to clod, hardly rising more than a 

 few inches from the ground, so that they are difficult to detect unless 

 you are really on the lookout for them, as they harmonise completely 

 with the newly turned brown earth. I have seen, in one batch, fine 

 adult males, immature males, and females, earning a livelihood by 

 picking up what Hodge calls " wurrums ! " a fairly wide term, which 

 may include anything that wriggles, crawls, or squirms. In the allot- 

 ment gardens, and about the ploughed fields bordering our southern 

 watering-places, they are fairly numerous all the winter; but their 

 manners are more subdued and their general habits less aggressive 

 than is the case when spring comes, and tear in shreds their " thread- 

 bare Penitence." 



The whinchat differs from the stonechat in being exclusively a 

 migrant, coming to this country in the spring to depart south in the 

 autumn. Though not so brilliant as the stonechat, the plumage of 

 the whinchat has a great charm of its own. It is really a very 

 beautiful bird, elegant in shape, graceful in movement, and aesthetic 

 in colouring. The broad eyestripe white in the male, buff in the 

 female together with the exquisite blending of dark brown and buff 

 markings on the head and back, make it very attractive-looking, and 

 are also largely protective in colouring, for it is often difficult to 

 follow the movements of a pair of whinchats on open heather and 

 pasture lands, which they love to frequent. It would be quite 

 easy to confuse the whinchats with the female stonechat, as all 

 three are alike in general colouring to the inexperienced eye ; 

 but they differ considerably in shape and attitude. The jaunty 

 air of the handsome male is reflected in the general bearing of 



