.304 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



truder as to the position of their nest. Owing to the white 

 patch on the neck, the bird is more easily observed than the 

 Whinchat, and the females of both species are equally shy, and 

 adopt the same tactics when driven from their nest. The 

 Stonechat, like its ally, catches insects in the air, and some- 

 times even captures butterflies on the wing j but it is often 

 seen on the ground, where it picks up worms and grubs. 



Nest. Always on the ground and well concealed, gener- 

 ally with a " run " extending for some distance, and serving 

 to make the discovery of the nest still more difficult. It is 

 rather more roughly constructed than that of the Whinchat, 

 and the materials are coarser, consisting of dry grass and 

 rootlets, with a little moss and horsehair. The lining consists 

 of finer grass and rootlets, with a little hair and an odd feather 

 or two. 



Eggs. Four to six in number. The ground-colour is pale 

 bluish-green, and the spots are light reddish-brown, but much 

 larger and more distinct than in the eggs of the Whinchat. 

 They are often found collected towards the larger end of the 

 egg, where they form a zone or completely cloud the larger 

 end. Some of the clutches incline somewhat to olive-greenish. 

 Axis, 075-0-8 inch ; diam., 0-5-0-6. 



THE ACCENTORS. FAMILY ACCENTORID^E. 



The Accentors are for the most part dwellers among the 

 rocks, but some of them, like our Common Hedge-Sparrow, 

 frequent the lower ground, and are amongst our most familiar 

 birds in gardens and in the neighbourhood of houses. They 

 -differ from the Turdidce. in having the tarsus scutellated, as in 

 the Tits, with which Mr. Seebohm has actually associated them. 

 In other characters, however, such as the shape of the bill and 

 its rictal bristles, the Accentors are allied to the Robins and 

 Redstarts, while the spotted character of the young proves 

 their affinity with the family of the Turdida. The Hedge.- 

 Accentors differ from most of the latter in having a very rounded 

 wing, but this peculiarity is not shared by the Alpine Accentors. 

 The family contains the two genera Tharrhaleus and Accentor. 

 The former comprises the " Hedge-Sparrows," like our English 



