THE STONE-CHAT. 291 



low, seek their food upon the ground, run with much celerity 

 in quest of it, and, from the pliable structure of their wings, 

 they can drop immediately from the wing under the cover of 

 a stone or a bush. Most of the males have some song in the 

 breeding season, soft and musical, but not of much power. 

 Their ordinary note is peculiar, something like the sound 

 made by striking or rubbing one pebble against another. 

 They are dispersed and solitary in the breeding time, and the 

 families do not keep together after the young are able to 

 shift for themselves; but the migratory species collect in 

 numbers before they take their departure in the autumn. 

 As their mode of life requires them to be constantly arising 

 and alighting, in order to catch the insects and worms on 

 which they .feed, they have very great command of the tail, 

 and keep it flirting upwards and downwards, even when they 

 are perched on a stone, a clod, or the top of a low bush, and 

 uttering their peculiar cry. They do not frequent the bare 

 and open parts of the wilds, but rather places where there 

 are heaps of stones, furze bushes, or any other substances 

 which are calculated to retain those fatter and richer parts 

 of the soil which are drifted by the winds, and are more 

 favourable for insects and worms than the exposed parts. 

 They do not feed wholly on the ground, but occasionally 

 dash after insects on the wing, something after the manner 

 of the fly-catchers, to which they bear some resemblance in 

 their shape. They are, however, rarely found in marshy or 

 very humid places. The chats have some of the characters of 

 the thrushes, more especially of the ring-thrush, only they 

 inhabit places that are more open and exposed, and they are 

 far more easily seen, as they perch on the top of the heap of 

 stones or other shelter that covers their nests. 



THE STONE-CHAT (Saoticolo, 



This is the only resident British species ; it is a bird of 



u2 



