THE FURZE-CHATS. 
3 01 
Then the male bird disappears altogether for a time, and the 
observer fancies that he must have been on the wrong scent 
altogether, when, after a long wait, the bird reappears on the 
top of the bush where it was first seen. On tapping the furze, 
a little brown object may be observed, scudding like the wind, 
and disappearing behind the first shelter it can find, or flying 
to a distant hedge, as if the nest were there. This is the female 
bird, and the nest is certainly located, but even then it is not 
visible. Only those who have taken several Whinchats’ nests 
under such circumstances know the difficulty with which the 
nest is finally discovered, for, although it may be ultimately 
found, it is necessary first to spot the “ run ” by which it is 
approached. As with the Grasshopper-Warbler, this is some- 
times two feet in length, and at the end of it is the nest with 
the eggs. It is not always that the Whinchat builds in situa- 
tions so difficult to discover, as sometimes the nest is built 
amongst the grass, far away from any hedge or bush. 
In the autumn the old birds are seldom or never observed, 
but the young birds are common, pursuing their insect prey in 
the harvest-fields in the country, or frequenting the pastures 
near the sea-shore, where they perch upon the thistles or low 
bushes, or on the hedges which line the fields. The birds 
may often be seen flying after insects in the air, after the 
manner of Flycatchers, and they are very active in pursuit of 
gnats and other flies, as evening approaches. 
Neat. — Composed of dry grass, with a very little moss, and a 
few straws on the outside The interior cup is more neatly 
woven, with finer grass and horsehair. 
Eggs. — Four or five in number, greenish-blue, faintly speckled 
with reddish-brown, the spots of the latter colour almost in- 
visible, but sometimes collecting at the larger end of the egg 
and forming a zone. Axis, 07-0-8 inch ; diam., 0-55-0-6. It 
may be mentioned that the spotted eggs seem to be rather 
larger and paler blue than the unspotted ones. 
THE STONECHAT. PRATINCOLA RUBICOLA. 
Motacilla rubicola, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 332 (1766). 
Fruticicola rubicola , Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 279 (1839). 
