THE WHIN-CHAT. 295 



If there are young plantations near, especially of pine or 

 spruce, under the shade of which the ground is not unlike 

 what it is under furze bushes, the stone-chat resorts there in 

 the cold months, and even in autumn, if that is dry : but it 

 does not build there, or at least very rarely, and only when 

 the plants are young, and the lateral branches near the 

 ground. 



THE WHIN-CHAT (Saxicola ruletra). 



The whin-chat is smaller than the stone-chat; it is five 

 inches long, and weighs about four drachms ; the other is five 

 and a half, and weighs five, and the whole appearance of the 

 whin-chat is feeble. It is a migrant, arriving in the south 

 of England about the middle of April, and migrating north- 

 ward rather slowly, so as not to reach its northern limit till 

 the middle of May; and even then it does not reach the 

 northern parts of Scotland, although it ranges much farther 

 than the stone-chat. Its habits, and also its song, have a 

 considerable resemblance to those of the former species, only 

 it sings more frequently on the perch, and comes nearer to 

 the cultivated fields nestling in thick tufts of grass as well 

 as under bushes ; but it is as shy as the other, and, if pos- 

 sible, more careful in the concealment of its nest. This is 

 approached by a labyrinth, to which the rising of the bird 

 affords no clue ; and one may seek long for it in vain, while 

 it may not be a yard distant all the time. The nests of all 

 the chats are so placed under cover, that they cannot be 

 looked down upon; but those of the stone-chat are often 

 placed in situations apparently less calculated for concealing 

 a nest than that from which the bird rises, and which is 

 generally an outwork to the 'nest, and approached by a zig- 

 zag path under cover. In that outwork the bird often turns, 

 so as to fly back again over the nest, or off at an angle, 

 which renders the discovery of it still more difficult. The 



