oo 
hird Life Through the Camera. 
Blue Chaffinch.— Writing from Teneriffe, Mr. H. D. 
AstL>y st iteri that he has secured 2 pairs of the above, but I had 
better quote him in extom) : — ¥jD. 
" I liave secured (at a Chemist's shop), two pairs of the 
" rare Blue Chaffinches, which is only to be found in the pine 
"forests around the Peak {Frmgilla teydea). They are a good 
" size, larger than the P^nglish Chaffinch and the males are a 
" pure smalt blue all over, with whitish bars across the wings, 
" which (bars) are not very conspicuous. These birds are in 
" danger of extinction, and as they are found in no other spot 
" in the world, and their habitat, at best, is very limited." 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
Bird Life Through the Camera. 
By H. Willford. 
( Contimtcd from pai/e 81.) 
THE STONECHAT [Pratincola rnhicola Luinmis), is 
one of the choicest gems of our British avifauna, and is to be 
found with us summer and winter alike. To observe him in his 
enjoyment of life is indeed a pleasure. 
In this locality (Isle of Wight), they are fairly numerous, 
but from May onwards, go about in pairs until the end of the 
breeding season, and each have their own beat, on which they 
allow no trespass by others of the same species. 
One April afernoon I was drivinga friend home and chanced 
to pass a field thickly grown over with furze and heather. I observed 
a cock Stonecliat flying from one flowering stem to the ground and 
then up again to another some few yards distance; we stopped, 
and having a pair of field glasses with us, watched for a while in 
the hopes of seeing the hen, but as she did not put in an appear- 
ance, I drove on, putting off a thorough search for the nest till the 
morrow. The next day I spent some three hours almost concealed 
amid the heather and furze, to the accompainment of the soothing 
hum of bees, who were busy indeed among the yellow flowers ; 
whilst I watched the cock Stonecliat through my glasses — every 
now and again, I would lose sight of him, till in the end he did 
not re-appear-— I was about to give up disappointed when I be- 
