OCCASIONAL NOTES. 295 
Flycatchers. Wheatears trequent hilly barren spots, and are found in the 
neighbourhood of stone walls, old lime-kilns, gravel pits, and similar places, 
generally preferring wild uncultivated districts, such as mountain-tops and 
sides, especially old stone quarries. They breed about the middle of May, 
and conceal their nest in the most clever way; in fact, unless you can 
detect the birds going to or from it, you may search for hours in vain. 
I once saw a nest on a hill-side in Cumberland under a huge projecting 
stone. A friend who was with me, seeing a pair of these birds leave the 
spot, began to search, and looking under this stone he saw what proved to 
be a nest. It was at arm’s length underneath, built on the ground, and 
made of hay and dead grass, lined with finer parts of the same material. 
It was rather a large structure, neatly put together, and contained seven 
fresh eggs of a very pale blue. This was at the end of May. This year I 
found one, by watching the birds, on the 8rd of June. It contained young 
ones nearly fledged, and was built amongst some loose small stones that 
had been thrown out from where a stone-quarry had been worked. I had 
to take up a good many stones before I could find it. The young ones 
came to the surface to be fed. They are very fond of the bottom of a stone 
wall with an escape on either side, and in such situations I have searched 
and pulled down stones for hours in a vain attempt to secure them. The 
birds are very noisy on being approached, and have the same kind of call 
as the Stonechat, only louder, and with a more plaintive and distinct 
“wee” before the “chat-chat.” Their flight is short and jerky, and they 
generally settle on walls or stones, or on the ground. They hop with great 
facility, and hover in the air at times like a Flycatcher while in pursuit of 
insects. They must be very common in Norway, for their eggs may be 
purchased there for a half-penny each. I never saw one settle on a tree. 
The white feathers on the tail are very conspicuous when they fly.— 
Whinchats, or as they are called here, “ Uticks,” from their call-note, 
prefer more cultivated districts, or the neighbourhood of more cultivated 
districts, than the two preceding species. They arrive in the midland 
counties early in May, and breed about the middle or end of that month, 
choosing meadows, mowing grass, and banks by the side of roads, as well 
as places similar to those selected by the Stonechat. They are often to be 
found, too, on commons and waste places. The nest is most difficult to 
find, unless the mowers come across it, which they not unfrequently do. 
It is built on the ground, and one I found ona bank where there was 
some furze had a run through the grass to it. I was beating about, and 
started the bird. The nest contained six dull-blue eggs, very like those of 
the Hedgesparrow. It is often built at the bottom of a hedge or in the 
grass at the foot of it, and is a loose structure of grass and moss, lined with 
fine grass and a few hairs. Sometimes the eggs have a few brown spots on 
them, The song of the Whinchat is sweet and wild, and the bird may be 
