SYLVIAD^I. 93 



WHINCHAT, Saxwola nibetra. The Wkinchat is 

 much less numerous in these parts than the Stone- 

 chat, which it much resembles in habits : it is, how- 

 ever, a much more decided summer visitant, seldom 

 arriving before the middle of April ; and very few 

 instances of its appearance in England during the 

 winter months have been recorded. Montagu says 

 it is common in this county ; and in the eastern 

 parts it may be so, but not in our own immediate 

 neighbourhood, where its visits are generally few 

 and far between, and their duration short, its first 

 appearance being immediately after its arrival in 

 the spring, and it departs again before the 

 breeding season at least, I have never seen one 

 further on in the summer. I have never observed 

 it on the Quantock Hills, where the Stonechat is 

 numerous. 



Both in the place it selects for its nest and in the 

 materials made use of, it much resembles the Stone- 

 chat. Meyer says its food consists almost entirely 

 of insects, such as flies, bees, beetles and cater- 

 pillars, some of which are taken by darting upon 

 them from a bush, and others are sought for on the 

 ground. 



The beak of the Whinchat is black ; irides brown ; 

 the feathers of the head and neck black, edged with 

 rusty ; a white streak extends from the base of the 

 upper mandible over the eye ; cheeks and ear-coverts 

 black ; a streak of white extends from the base of 



