184 INSESSORES. SAXICOLA. CHAT. 



metwith single or in pairs. It haunts open moorlands and 

 commons, particularly those overrun with furze (whence 

 comes its trivial name), or low brush- wood, and is rarely 

 seen to alight on any but the uppermost spray of a bush. 

 It utters a pleasing, though hasty, song, either perched, or 



Nest, &c. occasionally suspended on wing over the furze. Its nest is 

 placed upon the ground, amongst the grass, or in some low 

 bush, most artfully concealed, and indeed only to be found by 

 a very diligent search ; as the bird does not enter immediate- 

 ly from above, but by a long and winding path made through 

 the adjoining herbage. The nest is formed of dried grasses, 

 with some moss intermixed, and lined with grass of a finer 

 texture. The eggs, generally six in number, are of a fine 



Food. greenish -blue colour, without spot or stain. Worms and in- 

 sects taken on the ground are the common food of this bird, 

 but it also makes occasional short flights in pursuit of winged 

 insects, returning, like the Flycatcher, repeatedly to the same 

 spot. 



According to MONTAGU, it is plentiful throughout Eng- 

 land, except in Devonshire and Cornwall, where it is of rare 

 occurrence. I have traced it pretty far into Scotland ; but 

 its polar migration does not extend so far as that of the Wheat- 

 Ear, the bird not being enumerated in the Fauna Orcadensis 

 of Low. 



PLATE 48. Fig. 2. A male bird, natural size. 



General From the base of the bill, and over the eyes, passes a 

 tion. white streak or band, reaching to the nape of the neck. 



Cheeks and ear-coverts dark-brown, or brownish-black. 

 Chin and streak along the side of the neck pure white. 

 Crown of the head, back, and wing-coverts, brownish- 

 black ; each feather being bordered with ochre-yellow. 

 Rump yellowish-brown, streaked with blackish-brown. 

 Base of the primary quills white. Base of the tail 

 white; the two middle feathers black. Throat and 

 breast pale orange-brown. Belly and vent white, tin- 

 ged with yellow. Legs and toes black. 



