Birds by Land and Sea 



bright red breast, wholly black head, and the bold 

 white patches on the neck, wing, and rump, render 

 him a much more conspicuous object than the wheat- 

 ear. The whinchat, which also has a red breast, 

 may at once be distinguished from the stonechat by 

 the broad white stripe over the eye of the former. 



The whitethroat also was met with on the high 

 lands, wherever there was a tangle of weeds or 

 brambles meeting his requirements. 



In a middle zone, consisting of pasture land with 

 hedgerows, the corn-bunting was occasionally seen 

 or heard, and blackbirds and thrushes, especially 

 missel-thrushes, were exceptionally plentiful. 



Lower still lies the wooded ridge which over- 

 looks the Anglesey shore of the Menai Strait. Just 

 above this, however, and near to the remarkable 

 China Rock, is the reservoir. Here moorhen, coot, 

 and mallard might be seen feeding in the low reeds, 

 and herring-gulls came up continually during the day 

 for no other purpose than to bathe in and drink the 

 fresh water. 



The coot, very like a large moorhen in its 

 general appearance, may yet easily be distinguished 

 from that bird ; for, whilst the moorhen has con- 

 spicuous patches of white on the flanks and tail, the 

 plumage of the coot is wholly black. Even more 

 striking, however, than the red and yellow bill of 

 the moorhen, is the white shield upon the coot's 

 forehead, a sort of upward prolongation of its white 

 bill. Both birds feed on the water, dive, and swim 



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