THE STONECHAT 



cover, is just as alert and watchful, flitting from bush to 

 bush when disturbed, persistently uttering its double 

 note of wee-chic, accompanied by movements of tail and 

 wings. It has the same uneven flight, and a very similar 

 little song. The Stonechat, however, often indulges in 

 aerial flights much more extended than any I have ever 

 seen its congener undertake. In May the male occa- 

 sionally takes long soaring flights on flutterings wings, 

 from time to time hovering stationary for some moments, 

 at a height even of several hundred feet. During 

 these flights it will often chase an insect. Its food is 

 composed of insects, larvae, small worms, and seeds, the 

 latter probably enabling the bird to winter in our country. 

 It lives in scattered pairs, which apparently do not separate 

 after the nesting season. The Stonechat breeds in April 

 and May, and the nest is usually placed under the shelter 

 of a gorse or other bush, amongst the tall, coarse grass, 

 and is cunningly concealed. It is made outwardly of 

 dry grass, moss, and roots, lined with hair, feathers, and 

 sometimes wool. The five or six eggs are pale bluish 

 green, freckled and spotted with reddish brown. During 

 the nesting season the birds are exceptionally wary, and 

 it requires infinite patience to make them betray the 

 site of their home. The birds remain in family parties 

 well into the autumn in many cases. 



The Stonechat is a much showier bird than the Whin- 

 chat, and bears no great resemblance to any other British 

 species. The adult male has the head, throat, and back 

 black, the rump white, the under parts rich chestnut, 

 paler on the neck and breast ; the wings and tail are 

 dark brown, the former marked with white. The female 

 is far less showy, being browner, and the white parts are 

 not so clear. Bill, tarsi, and toes black ; irides brown. 

 Length 5^ inches. The nestling is spotted and marked 

 with pale brown, and has no trace of the black throat 

 or white patches in the wings. 



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