WHIN CHAT, 
SAXICOLA liUBETRA. 
E IS 0, xni^L^nijj arriving on the south coast about the middle or latter end of Apidl, and gradually 
working its way towards the north. It occasionally happens that hut few show themselves till the first or 
second week in May ; I have seen the largest gatherings of fresh comers in the vicinity of the Sussex shingle- 
banks on the 6th and 8th of the month. It is seldom that these birds, after landing, remain long in the 
vicinity of the coast ; in general they rapidly disperse to their haunts in the neighbourhood, or betake 
themselves inland on their way towards the north. 
I never received word of this species or the Stonechat being taken on the light-ships off the east coast. 
I, however, on two or three occasions, remarked a number of Whinchats on the Denes on the Norfolk coast 
during squally weather, at about the season when they prepare for a move towards the south. As there 
is usually a considerable addition to the residents in the southern counties shortly before their time of 
migration on the return journey to the continent, it is, I imagine, probable that the greater number 
of the summer visitors to the northern and eastern portions of the country make their way inland towards 
the south, and then cross the channel from the coasts of Kent and Sussex. AVhat course may he followed 
by the birds from the western counties I have not had an opportunity of judging. 
I hough I find but few notes in any of my journals concerning this species, I met with it in most of the 
northern counties of the Highlands. I cannot call to mind a single instance of having come across the 
Whinchat m the Outer Hebrides, though a few pairs were noticed during the breeding-season on the west coast 
of Koss-shire. In Sussex and Norfolk, where I have had frequent opportunities for studying the habits of 
this species, it breeds in much the same localities as the Stonechat, though in slightly different situations ; 
I have repeatedly found the nest of the Whinchat in far more open spots than would be resorted to by its 
congener. 
By the middle of September, numbers of these birds maybe noticed, in their dusky autumn plumage. 
Hitting round the sheep-folds and along the road-sides, within a few miles of the south coast. Soon after 
the end of September the latest stragglers have departed for a warmer climate. 
