TURDINA. 29 
THE STONECHAT. 
PRATINCOLA RUEBICOLA (Linnzeus). 
Unlike the preceding migratory species, the Stonechat is a 
resident in the greater part of our islands, although a partial 
movement takes place from the colder to the more sheltered 
situations in winter ; at which season there is an influx of visitors 
from those parts of the Continent where the climate is too severe to 
allow of a stay. The Stonechat is somewhat local in its distribution 
and also erratic ; frequenting a place for a few seasons, and then 
suddenly abandoning it. It breeds sparingly in the Orkneys, and is 
only a visitor to the Shetlands, but it is found to the extreme 
western limits of the Outer Hebrides, for I observed it on St. Kilda 
in August 1886. In Ireland it is common and resident. 
The northern range of the Stonechat in Europe is not nearly so 
extensive as that of the Whinchat, and scarcely reaches to the south 
of Sweden ; while in the north of Germany the bird is uncommon 
beyond the Elbe and unknown beyond the Weser, as well as of irregular 
distribution. In Central Europe it is unaccountably local ; but in 
the south it is common, breeding in Spain even in the hot plains 
below Seville. Migrants from the north go down in winter to the 
shores and islands of the Mediterranean, North Africa, Asia Minor, 
and Palestine ; and examples have been obtained to the south of 
Senegal. In South Africa the representative species is P. torguata? 
with white rump and deeper chestnut on the breast ; North-eastern 
