230 THE OPEN COUNTRY 



northern Africa, and in September leaves for the south, its wanderings taking it at 

 least as far as Senegal. 



In Germany, especially from the Elbe eastwards, the stonechat 



is a resident bird, and is less common than its relative the whinchat 

 (P. rubetra), wdiich generally arrives in the second half of April or at the beginning 

 of May. Found in most parts of Europe up to the Arctic Circle, and eastward 

 as far as the Urals, its southerly range extends into Africa and Arabia. The 

 whinchat is 5 inches long ; its chin, cheeks, and eye-stripe are white, the throat is 

 light reddish brown, as are the flanks, the centre of the breast being sandy ; all the 

 tail-feathers except two brown ones in the middle are white, with long brown tips, 

 and the primaries have white bases. The nest, composed of moss and dry grass 

 lined with grass and hair, is always on or near the ground and approached by a 

 winding run. At the end of May, or beginning of June, from four to six eggs are 

 laid. The nest is difficult to discover, but its position is often indicated by the old 

 birds if they have young, as when an intruder approaches they become very 

 noisy in their anxiety. The whinchat is vivacious in all its movements, and one 

 of the prettiest and most engaging of the minor songsters. It sings on the wing, 

 and its call of oo-taclc oo-tack is like that of the stonechat, but the two birds are readily 

 distinguished by the male stonechat having a black breast and but little white in 

 his tail, whereas the whinchat has a brown breast and much white in the tail, the hen 

 also having white in her tail, while the hen stonechat has none. 



A common inhabitant of the open country, the bunting 



(Emberiza miliaria) is widely distributed wherever there is 

 arable land. It is a heavily built, leisurely bird, walking in measured fashion, 

 and on account of its earthy-grey colour is scarcely perceptible, its plumage 

 being not unlike that of a lark, which it resembles in sleeping on the ground. 

 Its nest is always on or near the ground, and generally in the centre of a 

 field among coarse grass or young corn, being a loose structure of grasses lined 

 with finer grass and hair. The eggs, four to six in number, are of the colour of 

 slate, beautifully blotched with dark purple. The song bears a curious resemblance 

 to the sound produced by a creaking machine, but it has its admirers. When sing- 

 ing, the cock perches on a tree or telegraph-wire, or on a little height near the ground, 

 with feathers ruffled up, head erect, wings drooping, and throat distended. He 

 often repeats the song in the same place for a quarter of an hour or so, sometimes 

 running from one place to another, or flying in a whirring manner with dangling 

 feet, to a more distant spot, singing as he goes. The bunting ranges nearly all 

 over Europe south of Norway; its easterly limits extending to the Persian Gulf. 

 It is met with right across northern Africa, and is frequent in Hungary, south 

 Germany, and Switzerland. In October, November, and March, buntings wander 

 about in large flocks, and in cold winters migrate south. It is the largest of the 

 European buntings, being in some cases over 7 inches long. 



The pipits are represented in the open country by two species, of 



which the tawny pipit (Anthus camiiestris) lives on waste lands, plains, 

 and sandy stretches. It is peculiarly a ground-bird, perching on bushes, stones, 

 or posts, but never on trees, and running about in chase of insects, with an 

 occasional flight to a large stone or paling and thence at once to the ground again 



