610 



S A X I C O L A. 



at the tip. The nostrils lineal, oval, half covered by 

 membrane. The tarsi in general long ; the toes four, 

 three to the front, the exterior front one united to 

 the middle one at its base ; the claw on the hind toe 

 short and very crooked. The first quill very long, 

 and the third and fourth the longest in the wing. 

 They have not much song, but they are very hand- 

 some and hardy birds. Their habitations are various ; 

 some in the woods, some in the bushes, some in the 

 bare uplands among stones ; but they are all insec- 

 tivorous, and with us they are all migrant. The 

 species are numerous, and met with in various parts 

 of the world ; but we must restrict this notice to a 

 few of those which are most interesting to British 

 readers. 



THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT (5. CEnantiu) is a migrant, 

 departing from Britain in the fall of the year, and re- 

 turning again pretty early in the spring ; but it is one 



in the spring, and when the cold weather begins to 

 set in they depart from all the northern parts of the 

 country, and only a few of them remain in the coun- 

 ties bordering on the channel. The number that 

 may do so must, however, vary with the season ; and 

 as this is the case with all birds that have short mi- 

 grations, it is never easy to draw the line between 

 total migration and part^l residence, 



ID the male bird, the upper parts are blackish 

 brown, with dusky and white markings on the breast ; 

 the breast is pale, passing into dull yellow on the 

 belly, and white on the vent feathers. The female 

 has the white on the head less conspicuous ; and the 

 young birds have the brown parts mottled with white 

 and grey. 



They are birds of more feeble make than the other 

 chats, and their wings are not formed for long flight, 

 so that they are rare in the south-west of England 



where the channel is broad. 



THE STOSE-CHAT or CHUT (S. rubicola). Though 



of the most numerous of the genus, and indeed more 

 generally distributed over the wild and half-cultivated 



parts of the country than almost any other bird which , this U by no means the most plentiful species in Bri- 

 comes to us during the summer. It is not a bird of ; tain in the summer, it is the only one which is decidedly 

 bowers, or even of bushes, but of the open fields, ' a permanent inhabitant of Britain. It is found on the 

 where these are not in a state of high cultivation. dry moors, downs, and commons, where there are 

 The particular form of the claw on the bind toe un- ! bushes ; and, like the last mentioned one, it is parti- 

 fits this bird for walking upon, or rising from the | cularly partial to furze. It is a very pretty bird, 

 grassy sod, as the lark does ; and consequently it is ' handsome in shape, rich but not gaudy in its colours, 



found only on the bare ground. Its perch is on the 

 clods, or on a stone ; and the nest for its young is under 

 the same. The flight of these birds during the nest- 

 ing time is short and low, and the song of the male, 



and the male has a pleasant song. That song is in- 

 deed not very loud and varied ; but the place where 

 it is heard, and the early season at which it is given, 

 tend to heighten its effect. It sings before any other 



though sweet, is audible only at a very short dis- . note of bird but its own is heard ; for the call of the 

 tance. The usual note, which is like the tapping of , grouse ceases at day break, and the crow does not come 

 one pebble against another, seems to be in some way ' till there are nests to plunder. 



connected with the feeding of the bird, but in what j The bill, which U stout at the base, a little bent, 

 way is not known. This is the largest British spe- 

 cies, as well as the most abundant. It Is six inches 

 ia length, or rather more, and nearly an ounce in 



weight. The naked parts outside, and also the gape, 

 are black, and so are the quills, the middle tail feathers, 

 aud the tips of the lateral ones. The breast is buff- 

 coloured ; and all the rest of the under part and the 

 rump white. One knows not for what reason, but this 

 bird is much persecuted in many parts of the coun- 

 try ; and in the southern parts great numbers are 

 caught and eaten in the autumn, at which season 

 they become very fat, 



THE WHIIA-CHAT (5. rvbetra) is about five inches 

 long, and half an ounce in weight. It is a migrant, 

 coming to the south of England in April, and getting 

 gradually north, though not to the extremity of the 

 country, or so far up the hill as the wheat-ear. Its 

 place is on the margins of the cultivated grounds, 

 wherever it can find cover for its nest, either in a 

 bush or a tuft of tall grass : but it prefers the former. 

 Furze bushes are favourites with it, as they are not 

 easily entered by any predatory bird from above, or 

 by a large bird from any quarter. The magpie and 

 the crow are the great plunderers of nests in these 

 wild places ; but neither of them U very fond of 

 taking 1 a furze bush by storm, bristling as it does with 

 epears innumerable. The bird itself is just as safe. 

 It usually perches on a lofty twig, darting' like light- 

 ning on any fly that comes within the range of its 

 keen vision ; and the moment that any danger ap- 

 pears it drops into the bush, where it makes its way 

 to the place most distant from that at which it enter- 

 ed. In situation* favourable to their habits they are 

 no* rare 2 they make their appearance rather eaiiy 



and pointed at the tip, is black, and so are the head, 

 throat, and upper neck, ia the male. The rest of the 

 upper plumage is dusky with brown margins to the 

 feathers. The rump, a large patch on the greater 



coverts, and another on the side of the neck, are 

 white. The breast is of a rust colour, passing into dull 

 yellow on the belly, and white on the vent feathers. 

 In winter the black on the head becomes mottled 

 with rusty brown, and the rust-colour on the breast 

 fades to a dull white. The female has the whole 

 upper part brown and the under pale brown, without 

 any white on the rump. The colours of the female 

 change very little with the season. 



The chats, or at all events birds which very closely 

 resemble the chats in their economy, are numerous in 

 some parts of the world ; and the 'climates in which 

 they are found, together with the localities which 

 they occupy in this country, and the food upon which 

 they subsist, point them out as having a well-defined 

 place in nature. They bold an intermediate station 

 between the wagtails and the fly-catchers, being far- 

 ther from the water than the first, and farther from 

 the wood than the second. All the three subsist in 

 great part upon full grown insects, which they cap- 

 ture by lying in wait, and not by chase. The um- 

 ber that pass among the boshes is greater than one 

 would suppose from the dryness of the place, for 

 many of the insects which arrive there pass their larva 

 state in the earth, indifferent of what may be on the 

 surface. All places of which dryness and boshes are 

 characteristic are favourable for chats ; and therefore 

 they are numerous in Southern Africa, and in all coon- 

 tries that have the some extreme of drought daring 

 pan of the year. Most of the insects of such place* 



