on the Nesting of the Whinchat.



31



to hate, seemed so strange, so contrary to nature, as to be almost

unbelievable. Yet it was so. 0 splendid little lady, who chose the

better part ! 0 wonderful Book of Birds !


In the very early hours of the 14th we had a terrific thunder¬

storm followed by a cloud-burst of a tropical character, three quarters

of an inch of rain falling' in half an hour. It must have needed courage

to stick to the post of duty during that storm, hut the two little Chats

evidently never flinched, for on the following day the five youngsters

flew and looked bonny. They were a light brown on the hack, many

of the feathers being margined with buff, the lower half of the tail

feathers much darker brown, the breast sparsely spotted with dark

brown, the light buff superciliary streak rather conspicuous. They

kept well apart, each selecting a good hiding where there was thick

cover, and it was impossible to locate them, except by the aid of the

faint chuckling notes they uttered when hungry. On the 17th I

approached the aviary quietly and saw one perched on the top of a

gorse-bush (it had yet to learn discretion), sunning itself. But The

Flirt was doing sentinel duty and was well prepared for such an

emergency; she flew straight at the youngster and, with a dexterous

stroke of her wing, knocked him headlong into the thickest part of

the cover. 0 wonderful Book of Birds ! The adults began to moult

on the 19th.


On the 3rd August I caught all the Whinchats and made the

following note :—“ Colour of young Chats. Some have warm buff

breasts (probably males) and some whitish-buff ditto (probably

females) ; all have some spots and striations on the breast ; basal

half of primaries white on anterior margins ; rest of flights blackish-

brown ; some have a buff spot on angle of wing (probably males) ;

upper half of tail white except two centre rectrices ; curious long

reddish-brown median upper tail coverts, nearly Tg-ins., tips rather

square (possible object to conceal contrasted colour areas of tail) ;

superciliary streak light buff, more conspicuous in some (possibly

males).”


I released the whole family except one young male on the

same day. As in all other matters connected with birds, this has to

be carefully and wisely done, not relying on “ luck,” or the erstwhile

prisoners will assuredly starve; for, though a bird never forgets any-



