STONECHAT. 343 



colour at times almost entirely prevailing ; legs, toes and 

 claws black. 



The whole length five inches and a quarter. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the longest quill, two inches and 

 three-quarters : the first quill not half so long as the second ; 

 the second equal to the seventh ; the third or fourth the 

 longest, hut the fifth and sixth nearly equal. 



Adult males in autumn have nearly all the feathers more 

 or less broadly edged with reddish-brown ; the breast and 

 belly lighter than in summer. 



The adult female has the feathers of the upper parts 

 blackish-brown, bordered with buff, and the edges of the 

 quills lighter than in the male ; the chin buff, throat black- 

 ish, breast dull red ; the sides of the neck brownish- white, 

 and the alar patch smaller than in the male. 



Young birds in their nestling plumage have a general 

 resemblance to the young of the Bedstart, but each feather 

 of the upper parts has a decided median stripe of buff; the 

 wing-coverts, tertials and upper tail-coverts are broadly 

 bordered with chestnut; the tail is blackish, edged with 

 rufous, and the lower parts are less mottled. The males 

 after their first moult resemble adult females, and gradually 

 attain the adult plumage. 



The genus Saxicola has been variously subdivided by 

 writers ; but little can be said for most of the groups estab- 

 lished at its expense. Its smaller members however differ 

 so much in habit from the many true Wheatears, that the 

 separation of the former seems to be in some measure 

 excusable, and the majority of modern ornithologists re- 

 cognize the validity of the genus Pratincola, founded in 

 1816, by Koch, for the reception of the Stonechat and 

 Whinchat, with of course their allied forms. 



