TUKDIDiE. 11 



Stonechat. Fratlncola ruhicola (Linn.). 

 [Furze-Chat.] 



Resident, common in some places. Breeds. 



Frequents moors, heaths, and marsh-lands, and the cliffs of the sea- 

 coasts. Often seen on the Haldons, on the borders of Dartmoor, and 

 on other elevated tracts. Also at Plymouth, Kingsbridge, Teignmouth, 

 Topsham, Exmouth, and Axmoiith. 



In Korth Devon we meet with this prettj' little species almost every- 

 where, but it is nowhere plentiful, it being a very rare thing to see more 

 than one pair in the same immediate neighbourhood. Year after year 

 these little birds are faithful to the same station, and the nest is each 

 season placed at no great distance from the site it occupied the summer 

 before. In vcrj' severe weather in the winter the Stonechats disappear 

 for a time, either migrating further south, or seeking more sheltered 

 places in the vicinity of their usual resorts ; but should it be an open 

 season they do not wander very far from the localities in which they have 

 passed the summer. We quite agree with Macgillivray in his remarks 

 respecting the inajipropriate English name borne by this bird, which is 

 essentially a bush bird, and not, as its name might imply, confined to 

 rocks and rocky places, so that the name he proposed for it — " Black- 

 headed Bush-Chat" — seems to us more preferable. "Bramble-Chat" 

 would perhaps be better than either. 



Mr. Henry NichoUs has a fawn-coloured specimen in his fine collection 

 shot near Kingsbridge in April 1863. 



Bedstart. Ruticilla lohoenicurus (Linn.). 



[Fire-tail : Dev.'] 



A summer migrant, arriving from the 13th to 24th April, and departing 

 at the end of September. Breeds. 



Common in Northern and Eastern Devon, but scarce in the western 

 and southern parts of the county. 



liecont observers have reported the Ilcdstart as " common " in North 

 Devon, but in our time it was far from being so, and we only knew of 

 one or two pairs in the district around Barnsta])]e with which we were 

 acquainted. Young liedstarts, which very much resemble young Bobins, 

 are wont to seek their insect food in strange places. The interiors of 

 cucumber and melon-frames are often visited by lliem when the lights 

 arc r;iised to adn)it air, and tliey arc frequf^it visitors to greenliouses and 

 conservatories, where they do good service by destroying insects. 



Tlio Ilcdstart is an uncommon species in tlie neighl)ourhoud of riymoiith 

 (J. (i., Zool. 1873, p. :i(i32; and li. A. J., Naturalist, 1851, p. 44). One 

 or two pairs bred annually at ]Mount J0dgcuiul)O, and young were seen 

 there until 2(Jth Scpleralx'r iu 1849 (R. A. J., op.nt. p. 8(5). The late 

 Mr. T. ]{. A. Briggs records seeing one on A])ril Uth, 1887, at Fursdon, 



