THE WHIN-CHAT. 
175 
bluish-green colour, but faintly speckled with very light brown : 
they are sometimes six or seven in number. Elies, coleopterous 
insects, and caterpillars, were the chief food in the stomachs of 
these birds examined by me. 
Mr. Macgillivray observes, that the whin-chat generally arrives 
about a month later than the wheatear, “and in the south of 
Scotland seldom makes its appearance before the end of April, 
while it is stated to arrive in the south of England about the 
middle of that month,” vol. ii. p. 276. Even earlier than this 
latter period it has been met with about Belfast, but I do not pos- 
sess sufficient data on which to decide its average arrival. It is 
considerably later however, than that of the wheatear. The 
earliest and latest seen by me in the neighbourhood of the town 
just named, were observed in the same year, 1827, when they 
appeared on the 3rd of April, and remained until the 1st of 
October. In 1846, I observed them on the 8th of April, a few 
days before which they were seen about the mountains of Mourne. 
At the end of April, 1848, they were met with in the former 
locality. Sir Wm. Jardine with reference, it may be presumed, to 
Dumfries-shire, remarks, that this species is more common than 
the stone-chat, — “in some districts and seasons occurring in im- 
mense abundance,” Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 110. In no part of 
Ireland have I seen the whin-chat numerous, and compared with 
the stone-chat, it is very scarce. Three or four pair in a 
forenoon's walk, are about the most that will be seen at the 
beginning of the season in the north. In similar numbers as in 
this latter country, I have observed it in Holland, Erance, and 
Italy. One flew onboard H.M.S. Beacon, on the 26th of April, 
1841, when nearly 90 miles from Zante, and 130 from Havarino: 
the next day another came to the vessel when about 45 miles from 
Zante, and 60 from the Morea. 
