THE STONECHAT. 



Pratincola rubicola (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 3. 



This little bird may be seen on most of our furze-clad commons, perched on 

 the top of a prickly spray or on a stalk of dead bracken. In the British Islands 

 it is a resident species, frequenting the more sheltered parts of the country in 

 winter. On the Continent the Stonechat is found occasionally as far north as 

 Southern Sweden, and ranges through Europe to the Mediterranean, some winter- 

 ing in Africa and Asia Minor. 



The nest, carefully hidden at the foot of dense furze-bushes or among other 

 vegetation, is made of dead grasses and moss, with a lining of finer grass, hair, and 

 feathers. It contains five or six pale greenish-blue eggs, marked at the larger end 

 with spots of reddish-brown. 



The Stonechat has a pleasing little song, sometimes uttered when on the wing, 

 and its characteristic alarm note, resembling the sound produced by hitting one 

 stone with another, may be often heard as the bird flits from bush to bush. 



The Eastern form of Stonechat, of which a sketch is given on Plate 3, has once 

 been taken near Cley, Norfolk, on September 2, 1904 ; whilst another was obtained 

 on the Isle of May on October 10, 1913. It differs from our bird in having more 

 white on the rump. It ranges from Eastern Europe across Asia to Japan, migrating 

 southwards to winter in India. 



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