90 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



the tall stems of herbage, but are often seen far up the 

 branches of the highest trees. In the pastoral districts 

 upon their arrival they frequent, for the most part, the 

 fallow land, where turnips are being sown, and it is very 

 amusing to see them catch the insects abounding on 

 those situations, after the manner of the Wagtail. He 

 will sometimes be observed sitting apparently motionless 

 on a clod of earth, but if looked at closely, the tail is 

 seen wafting up and down with graceful motion. 

 Suddenly his quick eye detects an insect a few feet a\vay, 

 and with a rapid, half flying half hopping motion, he 

 darts forward and secures it, and then again returns to 

 his original position, where he remains still and motionless 

 as before. In many fields we see trees whose branches 

 almost sweep the ground, and upon these lowly 

 branches the Whinchat delights to rest and bask in the 

 sun. Occasionally we see him sally into the air and 

 catch the passing insects, like the Flycatcher : the beetles 

 which frequent the grass stems are also eaten, and ob- 

 tained while the bird is on the wing. 



The Whinchat utters his song both when at rest and 

 when fluttering in the air. There is nothing remarkably 

 striking in his performance, his song resembling that of 

 the Redstart, and given forth in a very low tone. Per- 

 haps the Whinchat is one of the first birds to lose its 

 notes. With me he warbles incessantly throughout the 

 month of May, not so frequently as June's leafy month 

 begins to wane, and ceases altogether by the first 

 week in July, when the young have almost reached 

 maturity. 



This little chorister is abroad very late in the evening, 

 and when night is about to enroll us in her murky 

 shroud we hear their familiar call notes, u-tac, u-tac, tac- 

 tac-tac, sounding from the trees, hedges, and fences, and 



