sea, one may frequently come across the snow-bunting, 
which, on the wing, will at once attract attention by the large 
areas of white displayed in the wing and tail. 
The redstart, one of our summer visitors, is a bird which 
can never be mistaken. A sight of the russet-red tail alone 
suffices. But the cock has the further glory of a mantle of 
grey, a black head and russet under parts. He is fond of 
country rich in old timber, or hillsides, where stone walls 
attract him. His kinsman, the wheatear, returns to us in 
the early spring; to give an added charm to our bare hill- 
sides, and warrens, sea-cliffs, sand-dunes, and waste places. 
If you see a small bird flying low over the ground, with a 
white rump, and black wings, you may know that the wheat- 
ear is before you. That delightful, restless little bird, the 
stonechat, is a near relation of the wheatear. He, too, is 
fond of waste places, and heaths ; more especially such as will 
provide him with plenty of furze bushes, or ling, on the top- 
most twigs of which he loves to perch, flitting his tail and 
uttering his fussy little notes, “‘ hweet-chat, hweet-chat.’’ 
On the wing you may tell him by his conspicuous white 
wing-patch, and the broad blaze of white on his neck, set off 
by a jet-black head. The female and young lack the bright 
chestnut on the breast. The stonechat’s cousin, the whin- 
chat, may be found in similar situations, but he is of a more 
roving disposition, and may be found also in lowland pasture 
P 213 
