142 
YERTEBE ATA. 
In severe weather it approaches the house, and picks up the crumbs around the door ; if toler- 
ated, it hops into the house, with a cunning expression of doubt and familiarity in its full, ex- 
pressive eye, and soon makes itself at home. It is probably the most universal feathered favorite 
in the countries it inhabits. 
Genus ACCENTOR : Accentor. — This includes the Hedge- Accentor, Hedge-Warbler, or 
Hedge-Sparrow, a. modularis — called 
Traine-buisson in France — an abundant 
European species, which, like the robin, 
lives in the vicinity of man, making its spe- 
cial haunts in hedgerows and gardens. Its 
song is short but sweet ; the length five 
and a half inches ; the upper parts brown, 
beneath steely-gray; it lays six eggs, oc- 
cupies the forests in summer, and seeks 
cultivated districts and human habitations 
in winter. 
The Alpine Accentor, A. Alpinus, is 
a larger species, living in the high Alps. 
Genus SAXICOLA : Saxicola, in- 
cludes several species, all of which are 
migratory. The Stonechat, S. ruhicola 
— the Traquet Patre of the French — is 
somewhat smaller than the robin, and 
frequents heaths covered with furze and 
brushwood. In pursuit of its insect food, 
it frequently is seen creeping from one stone to another, while it utters a chattering sound ; hence 
its popular English names of Stonechat and Stoneclink. It builds rather a large nest, and lays 
five or six eggs. It is common in summer throughout Southern and Middle Europe, and is also 
found in Northern Asia. 
The "Whinchat, S. ruhetra — the Traquet Tarter of the French — is five inches long, with a mixture 
of pale and dark brown above ; under 
THE HEDGE ACCENTOR. 
parts fawn-color. In general, this 
bird is migratory, but a few remain in 
England throughout the year. Its 
flight is undulating, and it flits from 
bush to bush, perching on one of the 
topmost twigs. Furze commons are 
its favorite haunts ; hence it is often 
called Furzechat^ and as the furze is 
called wliin^ it thus also obtains its 
common title. Worms, insects, small 
shell-molluscs, and slugs, form its prin- 
cipal food, but it also eats berries. 
The nest is formed of dry grass-stalks 
and a little moss, the lining being 
finer bents or stalks; it is usually 
placed on the ground. The song is 
very pleasing, and resembles that of 
the goldfinch; and the bird will sing not only during the day, but in the evening, and sometimes 
at night. This species become, like the wheat-ear, very fat in August, and, though smaller, are 
equally delicate for the table. 
The Wheat-Ear or Fallowchat, 8. cenanthe — the Traquet Motteux of the French — is a mi- 
gratory species, arriving in Europe toward the middle of May, and leaving toward the close of 
THE WHINCHAT. 
