18 STONECHAT 
to it—the untilled borders of the coast, the bushy strips 
along the course of the streams, the patches of ‘ garey,’ 
rough and often somewhat wet land overgrown with gorse, 
the lines of huge and furze-beset hedging; and the mild 
climate of our winter is attractive to the somewhat tender 
nature of the Stonechat. It is found on the Calf, on the 
sand-hills of Orrisdale, and on the wastes of the Ayre. It 
appears to have suffered greatly in the dreadful winter of 
1894-95, for during the following summer I did not see a 
single bird in the parish of Lonan, where I then lived. 
In summer the Stonechat pairs take possession each of a 
certain gorsy area, probably the same year after year; for 
instance, a pair may at that season always be observed close 
to the ‘Silver Well’* on Peel Hill. 
I do not know whether the individuals of this species 
with which we meet in the same kind of locality in winter 
are those which have summered with us, but the species 
occurs in about the same numbers, perhaps somewhat more 
dispersed over the country, and may be observed in some- 
what unlikely situations. I have seen it in its favourite 
attitude on the end of a stem of tangle sticking up among 
the refuse of Douglas beach, and on a cabbage plant in a 
field outside Castletown ; and Mr. Graves saw one on 23rd 
June 1902 perched and singing on the topmost part of the 
rigging between the masts of a schooner laid up in Peel 
harbour. 
In May 1882 Stonechats are twice reported as killed at 
Langness lighthouse, and as the Wheatear is there well 
known, the identification is probably correct. 
The species, in Britain well but locally distributed, 
occurs both on the moors and coast of north-western 
England, but is not generally common. It is plentiful in 
1 A holy well, so called from the offerings formerly dropped into it. 
