176 OLTv NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



moment after swallowing it, singing a song of 

 pleasure. Now and then it rests from its almost 

 continual movements, and perching on the top of 

 a rock or stone, or on the extremity of some 

 branch, pours forth a melody which, though short, 

 comes to us, as we lie on the greensward, as a 

 chaunt in praise of summer and sunshine. But 

 even ere the song seems hardly finished, away flits 

 the bird, rising in the air with sudden springs, 

 agitating perpetually its tail and its wings, then 

 coming down "in a sort of pirouette," and now 

 appearing and disappearing continually. The 

 movement of the tail has been comj)ared to that 

 of the clapper of a mill, hence one of the rustic 

 names for the stonechat, in France, is Traquet. 



If we observe this bird dm*ing ^lay, we are 

 amused by its various windings about the place of 

 its nest. This is built among the furze or briers, 

 or among stone walls, and is made of such materials 

 as the heath land yields, dried grass, a little moss, 

 and hairs for the lining. Over this nest the male 

 stonechat hovers, singing all the while his twitter- 

 ing song, and never entering it directly, but tra- 

 versing different bushes to reach it ; then emcr2:ini:: 

 again so cautiously, and winding so skilfully 



