24 Order I 



The female is browner and buff below. The range 

 extends over the whole Palaearctic region from Jan 

 Mayen and Mongolia southwards and even to the 

 Azores, but a larger race inhabits north-east America 

 and Greenland and visits Britain on migration. 



The Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is found in rough 

 grassy places of various descriptions, with a preference 

 for moors and newly planted copses ; it is mottled with 

 brown and buff above and is fawn-coloured below, 

 having over the eye a distinct white streak which is 

 buff in the female and some white on the wing and tail. 

 The nest, usually placed near the base of a small shrub 

 or large herbaceous plant, is a mossy structure with a 

 lining of fine grass, and contains about six green-blue 

 eggs, generally with rufous spotting. The hen-bird sits 

 very closely, while when disturbed both parents flit 

 before the intruder, perching on the shrubs, and re- 

 peatedly uttering their alarm note of " u-tick." Breed- 

 ing takes place about mid-May, but the bird arrives 

 a month earlier and stays till October. Abroad it 

 ranges through Europe to west Siberia, though it keeps 

 to the hill country in the south. 



The Stonechat (S. rubicola) should really be called 

 the Whinchat or Furzechat, as it is most common 

 among furze, where it may be seen throughout the year, 

 though as a species it is partly migratory. The cock, 

 a brown bird with black head, a ruddy breast, a white 

 patch on the wing and a partial white collar, is very 

 conspicuous as it flits in a fussy way from one perch 

 to another, uttering its clicking notes as a warning to 

 the hen, which is almost brown. The nest is placed 

 among heather, rough grass, or very low gorse, and is 

 made of moss, grass and so forth, with a finer lining ; 



