THE WHINCHAT. 



Sylvia rubetra, Lath. 



This bird gets its trivial name from the parti- 

 ality that it has to bushes of the whin or furze ; 

 and the places in which it is most abundant are 

 commons that are overrun with those bushes. 



The Whinchat arrives in the south of England 

 about the middle of April. It breeds in furzy 

 places, and makes its nest on the ground amongst 

 the grass, at the bottom of a bush, very artfully 

 concealed, generally forming a path through the 

 grass to it. This nest is composed of dried grass 

 and stalks with very little moss externally, and 

 lined with fine dried grass. The eggs are gene- 

 rally six in number, entirely blue, without a spot. 



It seems a more local species than the Chick- 

 stone, or Stonechat ; is rarely found in the further 

 part of Devonshire and in Cornwall, but is plentiful 

 in Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire, 

 and the more eastern parts. Selby traced it also a 

 considerable way into Scotland. 



The female is much less bright in colour ; the 

 white over the eye is yellowish ; the wing-coverts 

 brownish with scarcely any marks of white, as in 

 the male.* 



This elegant little bird (says Montagu) sings 

 * Ornithological Dictionary. 



