THE STOKECHAT. 367 



The breast is orange brown, and the wings dark brown, 

 with light edges to the feathers. The sides of the 

 neck, wing covers at the shoulders, and the under part, 

 are white, but on the belly the white has a tinge of 

 yellow. The female has less white, has the brown on 

 the upper part lighter, the head and throat dark brown 

 mottled with white and yellow, and the breast with 

 more of a yellowish tinge. 



Its habits and places of residence very much resem- 

 ble those of the whinchat, as like that it prefers the 

 elevated commons, and makes its nest at the bottom 

 of a bush, and formed of the same materials as the 

 nest of the wheatear. As is the case with the others, 

 the nest is carefully concealed, though the approaches 

 to it are not made with so much art as in those of the 

 whinchat. Occasionally, however, it builds under 

 the shelter of a stone, though it does not go so deep 

 into concealment as the wheatear. The eggs are the 

 same in number as the others, and the general colour 

 is nearly the same, only it has a more decided tinge o^ 

 green. Unlike those of the others, however, the eggs 

 of the stone chat are mottled round the thick end, with 

 spots of reddish brown. Some of the describers have 

 mistaken the eggs of one species for those of another, 

 and represented the eggs of the others as having mark- 

 ings. The eggs of birds, when properly described, are 

 very useful for distinguishing the species, as in the 

 same one they often differ less in colour than the 

 birds. 



Though the stone chat frequents elevated and bleak 

 places, it is not found in the northern parts of the 

 country ; but in the south it is resident, and found in 



