THE STONECHAT AND WHINCHAT 415 



throw of the birds I photographed, while away over the heather two 

 stonechats were busily instructing their newly fledged brood in the 

 art of living, for the resident stonechat is a far earlier breeder than 

 the migrating whinchat. I wonder if the little whinchats feel very 

 superior to the young stonechats, because their minds will certainly 

 be further enlarged by foreign travel and education ; or whether, on 

 the other hand, the resident stonechats have an insular prejudice 

 against foreign manners. In any case, though so similar in general 

 habits, the two species never seem to " mix in society." But these are 

 problems beyond our ken ! In some districts the whinchat certainly 

 rears two broods in the season ; the second is often not seen about 

 till August. 



How the whinchat wooes 1 do not know. Probably his method is 

 like that of the stonechat. One April evening I came upon a pair 

 of the latter chasing each other round and round some gorse bushes, 

 hopping on the ground for the most part, or throwing themselves into 

 the air. The male, with head stretched out, black cap raised, and 

 quivering wings outspread an attitude which displayed to full 

 advantage the excellency of his clean white collar, made sundry 

 rapid dashes at the female. She flirted I regret to record this fact, 

 but she did, for, turning and twisting, with head coyly on one side, 

 she lured him on, sometimes flying up to a twig and looking down 

 at her lord prostrate at her feet ; then hopping a short distance and 

 looking round to see if she was followed. This seemed to exasperate 

 the male bird, for he jerked his tail, quivered his wings more rapidly, 

 and dashed boldly at the lady. She, in no wise daunted, rushed at 

 him and inflicted various sharp pecks with her bill upon his head 

 and neck, so that he was forced to beat a retreat into the bushes, 

 where she followed ; but soon both birds emerged, apparently on the 

 best of terms. From this description it might be inferred that the 

 female was the bolder and more courageous of the two, but evidently 

 there was an air of assurance about her lover which took too much 

 for granted hence these rebuffs. Nevertheless all the time she 



