THE STONECHAT AND WHINCHAT 417 



prowling of some nocturnal animal or a startling noise will make 

 any of our common birds break into a short song. Apart from this 

 song proper, the stonechats, in common with most birds, have a 

 "love language," which consists of low crooning notes, disjointed 

 syllables which cannot be described. During the breeding season a 

 great deal of conversation takes place between parent birds of all 

 species concerning their young. Even non-singing birds have at 

 their command a whole gamut of expression, and their usually 

 harsh voices become capable of inflexions and modulations which 

 the ordinary passer-by never hears. For birds are the most self- 

 conscious of all wild things, and only reveal their real natures to 

 the patient watcher whose presence in their vicinity is utterly 

 unsuspected. 



The whinchat's song is a short warble, often repeated, sometimes 

 for half an hour at a stretch. The bird usually remains perched on 

 a twig, or swaying to and fro on some umbelliferous plant, but 

 sometimes he sings on the wing. He is never in a hurry like the 

 stonechat or wheatear, though now and again he will break off in 

 the middle of his song, dart into the air, seize some winged dainty, 

 return to his perch and begin the song all over again. Few birds 

 if any seem able to catch up a strain where it was broken off, but 

 have to start afresh a striking instance of conventionality in beings 

 so erratic by nature. 



