280 Wild Life in Wales 



southern climes, where our migrant Stonechats may be 

 supposed to pass the winter. I have merely attempted to 

 sketch what appears to me the most probable reason for the 

 marked differences which occur amongst our breeding 

 Stonechats, and it is not unlikely that the rules which 

 govern them may also apply to other species. That the 

 bright plumage is not due to the age of the individual 

 is obvious from the fact that the birds breeding, year after 

 year, in any given place, are always in a similar state ; and 

 in the case of residents, the pair may be kept under con- 

 tinuous surveillance, not only from one winter to the 

 succeeding summer, but over a series of years. It is 

 significant, also, that in the nearly allied Whinchat, which 

 only very rarely winters in Britain, no such marked 

 differences in plumage occur. 



In the next chapter, some more particular notes upon the 

 arrival of each species at Llanuwchllyn will be found. 

 Before closing this one, it may be added that the Whinchat 

 goes here under the name of Crec-yr-eithin, or " chirper in 

 the gorse." 1 The Redstart is, appropriately enough, Rhon- 

 gofh) or Rhonell goch ; elsewhere it is sometimes called 

 Llostrhuddyn, and Tingoch, each of which signifies " red tail." 

 The Reed Bunting is Penddu-y-gors, " black head of the 

 marsh" ; Bras-penddu y "black-headed bunting" ; and Golfan- 

 y-gors, "marsh sparrow." Gwylan is Gull, and the Black- 

 headed species is Gwvlan-benllwyd, or Gwylan-penddu ; 

 Herring Gull, Gwylan-y-Qenweig ; and Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull, Gwylan-gefnddu-leiaf \ the young of each is Gwylan- 

 Iwyd, grey gull. On the sea-coast an Oystercatcher becomes 

 Piogen-y-mor. The Creeper is Cropiedydd, or Crepianog-y-coed. 



1 This name also appears as Clochar-eithin, or Clep-yr-eithin, gossip of the 

 gorse. 



