The Stonechat. 39 



hinted, the Stonechat is onh- seen when flitting from bush to bush, but it is heard 

 incessantly. 



I have only once had an opportunity of studying this species as an aviary 

 bird. Mr. B. P. Staines of Penge, an enthusiastic student of British cage-birds 

 gave me a specimen, at the same time that he also brovight me my Whinchat, in 

 September 1893 : I turned it into the same aviary, and although I kept it for 

 over a year, it ultimatelj' lost its life from a similar cause, a Rosa's Parrakeet 

 breaking one of its legs at the mid-tarsal or so-called knee-joint. I caged the 

 bird up separately, after binding the limb up, but it only survived two days. 



In the aviary the Stonechat is gentle and extremely lively ; never quarrelling, 

 but often obtaining a delicacy by superior activity : thus I have seen it seize a 

 spider from under the very bill of a Wagtail and carry it half across the aviary 

 before the larger bird had solved the problem as to how it had disappeared : it 

 was also very expert in catching white butterflies on the wing, though it frequentl}^ 

 lost them through getting hold of their wings only. 



The Stonechat took to soft food without hesitation, and, many a time when 

 the other inhabitants of the aviary were waiting for a fresh suppl}^ I have seen 

 him alight on the edge of the Parrakeet's seed-pan and swallow canary and millet: 

 possibly it was in this manner he got in the wa}- of one of these treacherous birds, 

 and so lost his life. Of Cockroaches he ^vas inordinately fond, jumping into the 

 beetle-trap and flinging them out, or swallowing the smaller ones at a gulp : 

 sometimes he would snatch out a large female by one leg and fling the body awa}-, 

 following it up and again catching at a second leg with the same action, until he 

 had completely dismembered the body, which would then be swallowed entire : it 

 is astonishing to see what large morsels can be gulped down by these little birds ! 



This bird often sang in the early spring ; but, as in its wild state, its warbling 

 ceased entirely before the end of Jiine : it was fairly tame, but would not actualh- 

 take an insect from my fingers, always waiting until I dropped it, before attempt- 

 ing to secure it : like all insectivorous birds, it was more keen on spiders than 

 anything else, and the larger they were the better it was pleased. 



