206 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



believe, fairly well established ; occasionally the specks are 

 faintly distributed all over the shell. The illustrious Colonel 

 Montagu, who states that the eggs are entirely blue, without a 

 spot, and in this connection compares them with those of the 

 Stonechat, evidently had an experience very different to more 

 modern observers ; and it is difficult to reconcile what he so 

 emphatically alleges on the point with the observations that 

 annually come under my own notice, except on the plausible 

 supposition that it is only of late years the brown frecklings have 

 become so pronounced a feature in the appearance of the egg. 

 They have little of the turquoise-blue of the Hedge-Sparrow's 

 eggs about them, and they ought never to be confused with those 

 of the Redstart, and seldom with those of the Stonechat. The 

 variety egg I have often noticed in nests of the Whinchat takes 

 the form of a much lighter ground shade, and the frecklings are 

 generally more emphasized. To assert, however, that this egg 

 is invariably the last one laid is contrary to the fact, for I have 

 known instances when it was the first. 



Sometimes when in pursuit of food this species has a pretty 

 habit of poising itself on hovering wing — after the manner of 

 Swallows in hay-fields before the grass has been laid low — and 

 then darting down, snatching its prey, and flitting back as quickly 

 as possible to the top of the bending spray from which it had 

 only a few moments previously gone through the same process. 

 I do not mean that Swallows actually perform all this — only that 

 their suspensory movements in mid air when hawking for insects 

 at a low level over tall standing grass are very similar to the 

 hoverings of the Whinchat. The analogy, however, must not be 

 carried any farther, for as the former species snaps up its prey 

 at about its own level, the latter often indulges in a downward, 

 almost pouncing kind of movement. 



The statement that the Whinchat as a species passes the 

 winter in these islands is, of course, entirely apocryphal ; it may 

 be that individuals have remained on occasions, but in the 

 majority of cases it is warrantable to suppose that casual 

 observers have mistaken the Stonechat for the bird under dis- 

 cussion. Neither have I any faith in the assertion that this 

 species is double-brooded, and only regret that there is no means 

 of tracing the authority for some of the remarkable statements 



