257 



Nestling (Belgium) . Head, neck, and back blackish, brown, striped with sandy yellow, each feather having 

 a narrow light centre ; wings and tail blackish brown, the outer primaries margined on the outer web 

 with rufous buff, the inner primaries, secondaries, and short tail-feathers broadly edged and tipped with 

 rufous : underparts dull yellowish white, marked on the breast with dull brown. 



Obs. In order to show the variation in size of specimens from various localities, I give below a table of 

 measurements. As a rule examples from Southern Europe and Northern Africa are somewhat brighter 

 in colour than those from Northern Europe. I also give the measurements of the three specimens of 

 Pratincola rubetroides from the collection of Lord Walden, as I look on this as a perfectly good and 

 distinct species. 









Oilmen.. 



"Wing. 



Tail. 



Tarsus. 







inch. 



inches. 



inches. 



inch. 



P. rubetra . . 



. . England. 



0-57-0-65 



285-2-95 



1-8 -2-1 



0-83-0-92 



>y 





Sweden. 



0-55-0-65 



2-7 -2-95 



1-8 -2-0 



0-85-0-92 



i> 





. . Italy. 



0-55 — 



2-8 — 



1-8 — 



0-8 — 



3f 





. . Greece. 



062 — 



2-9 — 



1-9 — 



0-9 — 



>> 





. . Asia Minor. 



0-63 — 



29 — 



20 — 



09 — 



a 





. . Nubia. 



0-61 — 



2-85 — 



2-05 — 



0-85 — 



3) 





Algeria. 



06 — 



2-9 — 



1-9 — 



0-9 — 



}} 





. . Accra, W. Africa. 



0-65 — 



2-91 — 



1-95 — 



0-95 — 



» 





. . Cape-Coast Castle. 



0-63 — 



30 — 



1-98 — 



0-90 — 



P. rubetroides 



. . . Sirsa. 



0-6 — 



295 — 



2-25 — 



]-0 — 



>> 



. . . Hurriona, 6 . 



0-6 — 



30 — 



2-15 — 



1-0 — 



» 





. . . Umballah, ?. 



0-65 — 



305 — 



235 — 



1-1 — 



The present species is met with throughout Europe, extending its range further north than the 

 Stone-Chat. In Asia it is found in Persia, but in India is replaced by a closely allied species, 

 P. rubetroides. Unlike the Stone-Chat it is a migrant, leaving in the late autumn for Southern 

 Europe and Northern Africa, and is met with during the winter as far south in Africa as Fantee. 

 Throughout Great Britain the Whin-Chat is found affecting the same haunts as its relative 

 the Stone-Chat, but scarcely so common as that species. In Scotland it ranges, Mr. E. Gray 

 writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 87), from the border counties to Caithness, though in many districts 

 it is altogether absent. Macgillivray records it as found in the Outer Hebrides ; and it has been 

 met with in Orkney. It has, however, not been met with in Shetland. In Ireland it is found in 

 almost every county, but, as in England, it is very local, and is also said to be rare. In Norfolk, 

 Mr. H. Stevenson informs me, as the marshes in the " broad "-districts become consolidated by 

 drainage and cropped with thistles, the Whin-Chat extends its range, and is now found on the 

 very borders of the swamps. In our midland and southern counties the Whin-Chat is found 

 on most of the large commons, though not everywhere, being, as in Scotland, not so generally 

 distributed as the Stone-Chat. In Somersetshire, Mr. Cecil Smith informs me, it is by no means 

 common, being only occasionally met with during the summer season. It does not appear to 

 go so far north as Iceland ; and though said by Linnseus to occur in Spitzbergen, subsequent 

 travellers do not confirm this statement. Captain Feilden informs me that it has once been met 

 with on the Faeroes, a specimen having been observed by Mr. H. C. Miiller near Thorshavn in 

 December 1852. Throughout Northern Europe the present species has a much more northern 



