XXII. 

 SAXICOLA lUIBICOLA (uechsi.) 



Stone-chat. 



The Stone-chat is much less common than either ol" the 

 following species, it breeds, too, in places less frequented, on 

 whinny commons and heaths ; the nest is placed on the 

 ground, at the bottom of a whin, or other bush, or amongst 

 the heath ; it is composed principally of grass, with a small 

 quantity of moss, hair, and a few^ feathers ; the eggs are five, 

 or more commonly six, in number, sometimes, though rarely, 

 seven ; they are readily distinguished from those of tlie 

 Whin-chat, being much less blue, and more closely sprinkled 

 throughout with light reddish-brown. It breeds in May or 

 June ; it is, however, very difficult to mention any particular 

 date for the time of nidification of our smaller birds, as indivi- 

 duals of the same species are frequently either building their 

 nests, laying their eggs, sitting them, or feeding their young 

 ones at the same time. — Plate XXII., Fig. 1. 



SAXICOLA RUBETRA. (bechst.) 



Whin-chat, Grass-chat. 



Nearly all our ornithologists have described the eggs of 

 the Whin-chat as being of a pure and spotless blue colour, 

 but they have evidently not examined many, or they would 

 not have come to a conclusion so generally erroneous. It is 

 quite true, that, in many instances, it is the case, the eggs out 

 of the same nest being frequently both spotted and spotless ; 

 yet, out of nearly two hundred of the eggs which I have seen, 

 the larger proportion were spotted, most of them as distinctly 



