OBIGINAL SKETCHES OF BRITISH BIRDS 209 



Wheatear, the Whinchat, and the Stonechat, is open to improve- 

 ment, and that if lots were drawn as to which of the names 

 should be applied to each bird, the result might not improbably 

 be more in accordance with their individual haunts and habits 

 than is now the case. The favourite perch of the Wheatear is 

 beyond all doubt on some wall or rock, and its affection for 

 stony places is notorious. The Whinchat, to my thinking, 

 frequents the lowland pastures more frequently than the upland 

 heaths, and is not necessarily to be sought amongst whins ; while, 

 on the contrary, the haunts of the Stonechat are confined almost 

 exclusively to wild heaths and commons, and on the topmost sprays 

 of the whin -bushes it is almost invariably to be seen stationed. 

 Nevertheless, the Wheatear does not take its name from the 

 haunts it particularly affects, as its congeners are supposed to do. 



Bircher Common — or, to use the vernacular of the district, 

 Bircher "Kimmin " — is one of the favourite resorts in Hereford- 

 shire of the Stonechat. Here it is an early breeder, and those 

 who are in want of its eggs and meditate a search for the same 

 on their own account, had better make a note of the fact. The 

 allegation that it rears two broods in a season, however, is 

 probably correct. The nest, somewhat slovenly put together, is 

 almost invariably placed on the ground in the recess of some 

 furze-bush, and is most skilfully concealed. It is composed 

 of moss and dry grass, and lined with finer grass, hair, and occa- 

 sionally a few feathers, while I have one nest in my memory, taken 

 on Bircher Common, that was profusely lined with sheep's wool. 



The eggs are subject to a certain amount of variation, but the 

 ground colour is generally of a pale greenish blue, typical more 

 of the shade of Spotted Flycatchers' eggs than that of those of 

 its allied species, the Whinchat. They are, however, very 

 prettily and distinctly mottled with specks and spots of reddish 

 brown, which, when not confluent, frequently form a wreath round 

 the broad end. I have never come across the unspotted variety 

 in my wanderings. The most perfect clutch of Stonechat's eggs 

 I ever saw came from the common I have already alluded to ; 

 they were not only of unusual size, but a magnificent zone 

 of bold brown markings enriched the broad end of every one of 

 them. Five is as frequent a number in a clutch as six, according 

 to my observations. 



Zool. Mh ser. vol. III., May, 1899. p 



