3°° allen’s naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
spring, and the white wing-patch is very plain. In the autumra 
the fore-neck has some small black streaks. 
Range in Great Britain. — A summer visitant to the British Is- 
lands, visiting the North of Scotland, as well as the Orkney and 
Shetland Islands, and also the Hebrides. In Ireland, however, 
it is still considered as a rare and local summer visiter. 
Range outside the British Islands. — As in Great Britain, the Whin- 
chat is a summer visitor to most parts of Europe, and breeds, 
as far north as the Arctic Circle. It extends eastwards to the 
Ural Mountains, and its breeding range even to 70° E. long. 
In the south of Europe, the individuals which stay for the sum- 
mer season only nest in the mountains. In winter the Whinchat 
visits North-east Africa, and is frequently to be found in collec- 
tions from Senegambia and the Gold Coast. 
Habits.— The Whinchat is one of the prettiest and most 
engaging of our summer visitors, but is seldom noticed by 
anybody but the ornithologist ; and yet it is by no means 
uncommon. It is found in a variety of situations, in the open 
moorland, the fallows, and the grass fields before ihe hay- 
season begins. Wherever it is found its habits are very similar,, 
and it may be observed on the open commons, sitting on the 
top of a furze-bush like a Stonechat, or flying over the stand- 
ing grass, and perching on a thistle or small bush in the middle- 
of the field ; or it may be found on the slope of a hill, over 
which are scattered furze-bushes. On its first arrival in the 
early part of May, the Whinchat may be seen in pairs, but after 
the nesting season the female is seldom observed, and there is 
no more difficult nest to discover. The male is observed on 
the top of a bush, and from its actions one may fancy that the 
nest is below ; this generally turns out to be the case. The 
bird, however, will do everything in its power to mislead, flying; 
off rapidly and reappearing at the top of a neighbouring bush, 
uttering its note, 71-tack , u-tack. This is a very good render- 
ing of the note of the Whinchat and Stonechat, both of whose 
calls resemble the sound of two stones being clinked together.* 
* We notice that Mr. Seebohm says that the Whinchat is called 
“ U-tick,"’ from its note, in some country districts. In Leicestershire,, 
in our young days, this name was always applied to the Wheatear. 
