PRATINCOLA RUBETRA. 
Whinchat. 
Motacilla ruhetra, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 332. 
Sylvia mhetra, Lath. Inch Orn., yol. ii. p. 525. 
Ruhetra major sive riibicola, Briss. Orn., tom. iii. p. 432, tab. 24. fig. 1. 
Saxicola ruhetra, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutschh, tom. i. p. 252 b. 
CEnanthe ruhetra, Vieill. 
Fruticicola ruhetra, Macgill. Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 273. 
Pratmcola ruhetra, Koch, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 304, Pratincola, sp. 1. 
Praticola ruhetra, Parz. Cat. cles Ois. d’Eur., No. 162. 
The Whinchat is one of the prettiest of the British summer visitants, and its presence is accotnpanied by 
many pleasing associations. It is hy no means the earliest of our migrants, for it seldom arrives before the 
middle of April or the beginning of May ; the great flights do not, in fact, appear before vegetation has 
put on a luxuriant garb, when the fields have become spangled with buttercups, and the May is in blossom, 
when the Swift spins over the mead, and the Landrail sends forth its craking note. At this exuberant 
season, when all nature is stimulated by the daily nearer approach of the sun, the Whinchat is to be seen in 
its greatest perfection ; for now it is most gaily attired, and gives utterance to its cheerful song wliile perched 
on the outermost spray of the hedge-row, or on the bent-down grass in the meadow ; at this time, too, it 
rises perpendicularly in the air, and sings as it descends to the ground, when the constant movement of its 
tail and its sprightly manners indicate the group to which it belongs. The Whinchats, Redstarts, and 
Wheatears were formerly included in one genus ; but they are really three distinct forms, to each of which 
a separate generic appellation is now assigned. In other countries there are many species of Wheatear 
besides our own, many Redstarts, and not less numerous Pratincolce, all of which, combined with some 
other forms I need not enumerate here, constitute a well-defined family of birds (the Saxicolinae) which 
is peculiar to the Old World, and almost exclusively to that portion of it lying north of the equator. 
ITie Whinchat winters in Northern Africa and Persia, and is as universally spread in summer over all parts 
of the European continent, from the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas to Lapland and Northern 
Russia, as it is in the British Islands. Unlike the sedentary Stonechat, it is distributed far and wide over 
the whole of the three kingdoms, but is much more numerous in some parts than in others ; for instance, it 
is less abundant in Cornwall than in the midland counties, and there are districts in Scotland where it is still 
more unfrequently seen. Wherever it may be, it feeds upon insects, which it captures, while in their winged 
state, with an alertness only excelled by the true Flycatchers ; it is particularly dilligent in its search for 
small Coleoptera and their larvae. 
Although arriving late in the season, the Whinchat is said to he douhle-hrooded ; and I think this more 
than probable, since I have observed that it remains here long after many of our sylvan birds have departed 
for their winter quarters. At this time it has left the grassy mead and the furze-clad common, and betaken 
itself to the fallow fields, where, like the clodhopping Wheatear, it springs over the surface with an air of 
sprightliness peculiar to the birds of this group. These autumnal birds are so differently attired from those 
we see in spring, that It has always appeared doubtful to me whether the Whinchat is not subject to a 
marked seasonal change. In all I have seen at this season, the rich orange-buff of the breast is entirely 
absent, while the white of the throat, sides of the neck, and the breast is dotted with minute well-defined 
specks of dark brown, and the feathers of the back are narrowly encircled with greyish white. It is just 
possible this may be characteristic of the second moult of yearling examples ; but it is a very different dress 
from that which the young assume immediately after leaving the nest, an example of which was kindly 
placed at my disposal by Mr. Bond, and I have it now before me. This individual, which had the wings 
sufficiently developed to enable it to fly, has the crown of the head, the ear-coverts, and the upper surface 
generally striated with buff and dark brown, the throat and abdomen nearly pure huff-white ; while the 
breast-feathers have no appearance of spots in their centres, and are edged with dark brown. If the Whin- 
chat does not undergo a seasonal change in the full sense of the words, I think it probable the males do not 
acquire their finest livery until the second year. We have ample evidence that this is the case with the 
Black Redstart; and why should it not be so with the Whinchat? The fully adult female, although 
possessing the general features of the male, has all her colours less pure and less strongly contrasted. 
“ The Whinchat is not,” says Mr. Hewitson, “ so exclusively an inhabitant of furze-covered hedgeless 
districts as its name would imply ; for In one of the rich grassy vales of Westmoreland, where I went to 
school, it was abundant, and the name of Grass-chat given to it was suited to the nature of the country round. 
