120 MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



grass and moss to the outside, feathers and hair 

 within. The Stonechat is almost wholly insectivorous. 



Stonechats have been described as irascible, and 

 they certainly leave one in no doubt as to what they 

 think of a prying intruder. The hen sits very close; 

 the male is a good husband and father. The young 

 ones remain long in the nest and require large 

 quantities of Flies, Caterpillars, Spiders, and so on. 

 The parents, Miss E. L. Turner notes, sometimes 

 bring food twice a minute; and Mr. Farren reports 

 twenty visits in fifty minutes. Careful observers of 

 birds are among the few who have anything like an 

 adequate idea of the amount of time and energy that 

 is often devoted to other-regarding activities. 



The .Whinchat (Pratincola rubetra) is a summer 

 visitor, arriving in April or May, leaving early in 

 October. It frequents heaths and moorland like the 

 Stonechat, but the two cousins are seldom much to- 

 gether, and the Whinchat has a fondness for pastures. 

 As regards nest, eggs, food, call-note, and song, the 

 Whinchat is not very different from the Stonechat, 

 but the adult male has a dark brown head, with a long 

 white streak above the eye, and a fawn-coloured 

 breast. The general colour of the upper parts is 

 brown and buff, very inconspicuous in the bird's 

 ordinary habitats. 



Whinchats are more elegant birds than Stonechats, 

 less brilliant in colouring, but not less subtle. The 

 nest, though generally like the Stonechat's, is lined 

 with fine dry grasses. Miss Turner writes in Kirk- 

 man's magnificent " British Bird Book " (vol. i., p. 

 417) : " The Whinchat's song is a short warble, often 

 repeated, sometimes for half an hour at a stretch. 



