150 S'dviadce. 



chestnut breast ; it utters a kind of clicking note, 'Chook, chook, 

 hence sometimes called ' Stoneclink ' and ' Stonechatter/ and is 

 for ever on the move from one stone to another, or from the 

 summit of one bush to the next. The Rev. G. Marsh used to 

 say it was called the ' Furze Robin ' in his neighbourhood. 

 Elsewhere in the county it is known as the ' Horse Matcher,'* 

 though the origin and meaning of the name are alike unknown 

 to me; but in Turkey it has the strange title how derived I 

 know not of ' One in ninety.' The specific name, rubicola, 

 means an ' inhabitant of bramble-bushes ;' and the generic, 

 Saxicola, ' one that dwells among rocks,' from saxum + colere ; 

 in France it is Traquet Pdtre, ' Shepherd's Mill- clapper ;' and in 

 Germany, Schwarskehliger Steinschmatzer, ' Black - throated 

 Stone-kisser;' in Portugal, it is Chas Chas, and Chasco. In that 

 country it is looked upon with disfavour, for the country people 

 have a superstition that it is an excommunicated bird, for it led 

 Judas to the place where our Blessed Lord was to be found. 

 They say that, as it led Judas on "the way, it cried 'Chas, Chas, 

 por aqui bem las, ' This is the way;' but the Chaffinch tried to 

 lead in a contrary direction, by crying, Pirn, Pirn, por aqui bem 

 mm, ' Come this way;' wherefore the Chaffinch is honoured and 

 the Stonechat detested.f 



44. WH INCH AT (Saxicola rubetm). 



The haunts, habits, and general character of this warbler are 

 very like those of the last described. It is to be met with in the 

 same localities, and, though not quite so common as the stone- 

 chat, may often be seen on our downs. Montagu, speaking of 

 it fifty years ago, says ' it is plentiful in Wiltshire ;' but being a 

 shy and solitary bird, only seen singly or in pairs, it is certainly 

 not now numerous. In plumage it is not so gay as its congener, 

 but prettily marked, and in colour mottled brown ; and in 

 song it is pronounced superior : it is also said, when reared from 

 the nest in a cage, to be a skilful imitator of other birds. It 



' Wild Life in a Southern County,' p. 196. 



t Ibis for 1887, p. 88, Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 



