108 
SYLVIADiE. 
INCESSOTiES. SYL VIA DAE. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
WHINCHAT, GRASSCHAT. 
Saxicola rubetra. 
PLATE XXX. FIG. II. 
The Whinchat is not, as its name might imply, so 
entirely an inhabitant of those furze-covered hedgeless 
districts, as the other two species of Saxicola. In one of 
the rich grassy vales of Westmoreland, where I was at 
school, it was abundant, and there the name of Grasschat, 
by which we used to know it, was suited to the nature of 
the country round. 
They were so plentiful, that any evening on which we 
bent our bird-nesting rambles to the inclosures, we were 
usually successful in finding two or three of their nests. 
These were either placed in a tuft of grass in a rough 
pasture field, or amongst the thick grass of the meadows, 
which, at this time of the year, May or June, was long 
and fit for cutting; and I have often since wondered at 
the good-nature of the farmers, who suffered us thus to 
roam unmolested among their crops. 
The furzy common is, however, perhaps the most fa¬ 
vourite resort of this species, where it places its nest, like 
that of the stonecliat, at the foot of a furze or stunted 
thorn-bush, or amongst some heath ; sometimes, though 
rarely, it is placed in the centre of a piece of thick furze, 
a few inches above the ground. 
The nest is composed outwardly of the stalks of plants 
