THE WHIXCHAT. 313 



favourite haunts are in the pastures and the hay-meadows ; whilst far up 

 the mountain-sides on the broad stretches of heather it is common in 

 summer. The Whinchat is also abundant on the commons and rough 

 open wastes clothed with stunted bushes, briars, and brambles. In the 

 south of England it reaches its favourite haunts by the middle of April, 

 the northern districts being tenanted by these birds a little later, some- 

 times not until the beginning of May. In some few instances the 

 Whiuchat lias been known to winter in England ; but the authentic 

 occurrences of the bird at this season are so few that it must be considered 

 a strictly migratory bird, leaving us for the south in the third week 

 in September. It will most probably arrest your attention as it either 

 sits on the very topmost spray of some bush or heath-tuft or clings firmly 

 to a stout grass-stem or dock -plant, swaying gracefully up and down 

 by the weight of the bird upon it. There it sits quietly, incessantly 

 fanning its tail with graceful motion, and occasionally uttering its 

 monotonous call-note of u-tac u-tac-tac-tac-tac, a note which has gained 

 for the bird its local name of " Utick " in many country districts. As you 

 approach the little creature seems to awaken to its danger, and flits rapidly 

 off, in undulating fitful flight, to another stem of herbage or topmost twig, 

 where it sits and watches you as before. Although the Whinchat so often 

 chooses a perch near the ground, it by no means shuns the trees, and, 

 especially towards the end of summer, it is seen with its young brood 

 high up amongst the branches. The bird does not show that partiality for 

 walls and rocks which is so marked a feature of the Redstart or Wheat- 

 ear. In the pastoral districts the Whinchat, directly after its arrival, 

 frequents the fallows which are being worked for the turnip-crops, and on 

 these places is found almost continuously until the neighbouring pastures 

 afford it sufficient shelter. The Whinchats never roost in trees, but 

 always on the ground. When they first arrive we may find them at night 

 on the fallows, but for the remainder of the season grass-fields and turnip- 

 lands are frequented. In the wilder parts of its haunts the Whinchat 

 roosts amongst the heath and the tangled undergrowth of gorse-covert 

 and brake. Another remarkable trait in the character of this bird is its 

 activity in the dusk of the evening, a time probably when some insect 

 that forms its favourite food is abundant ; and its well-known call-notes 

 may be heard long after the birds themselves are concealed from view by 

 the falling shadows of night. 



Like the Redstart and the Wheatear the Whinchat seeks much of its 

 food in the air. It takes its stand on some favourite perch and watches 

 the clouds of insects sailing dreamily around. Ever and anon it launches 

 into the aJr to catch a fly or a gnat. The food of the Whinchat is 

 almost exclusively confined to insects and small worms obtained amongst 



