PRATINCOLA. 311 



Genus PRATINCOLA. 



The Bushchats were included by Bechstein in his genus Scuricola, but 

 were removed by Koch when he subdivided this genus and established the 

 genus Pratincola for their reception, in 1816, in his ' System der baier- 

 ischen Zoologie/ p. 190. Koch did not indicate any type ; but he placed 

 the "vThinchat first upon his list ; and this bird has, by common consent, 

 been regarded as such. 



The Bushchats are a small group of birds allied in some respects to the 

 Chats, and in others to the Flycatchers. The bill is shorter and broader 

 than that of the Chats, but not so broad as that of the Flycatchers. The 

 tarsus is comparatively short, and the plumage much more fluffy and loose. 

 The rictal bristles are large and well developed. 



Sharpe, in his ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ' (iv. 

 p. 178), enumerates thirteen species which are distributed over the Palae- 

 arctic, ^Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions, but absent from the Australian 

 Region. Three species are found in Europe, and the occurrence of a 

 fourth is somewhat doubtful. One is a resident and one a regular summer 

 migrant to the British Islands. 



The Bushchats are more arboreal in their habits than the Chats, fre- 

 quenting bushes, low trees, and tall herbage. Like the Flycatchers, they 

 obtain much of their food on the wing. They feed principally on insects 

 and worms. They are possessed of considerable powers of song. They 

 build loosely made nests, open, and composed of grasses, hairs, feathers, 

 moss, &c., placing them amongst tall herbage and under bushes. Their 

 eggs, from four to six in number, vary from pale to dark blue, sparingly 

 spotted with reddish brown. 



