Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/319

Rh Flycatchers. Wheatears frequent billy barren spots, and are found in the neighbourhood of stone walls, old lime-kilns, gravel pits, and similar places, generally preferring wild uncultivated districts, such as mountain-tops and sides, especially old stone quarries. They breed about the middle of May, and conceal their nest in the most clever way ; in fact, unless you can detect the birds going to or from it, you may search for hours in vain. I once saw a nest on a hill-side in Cumberland under a huge projecting stone. A friend who was with me, seeing a pair of these birds leave the spot, began to search, and looking under this stone he saw what proved to be a nest. It was at -arm's length underneath, built on the ground, and made of hay and dead grass, lined with finer parts of the same material. It was rather a large structure, neatly put together, and contained seven fresh eggs of a very pale blue. This was at the end of May. This year I found one, by watching the birds, on the 3rd of June. It contained young ones nearly fledged, and was built amongst some loose small stones that had been thrown out from where a stone-quarry had been worked. I had to take up a good many stones before I could find it. The young ones came to the surface to be fed. They are very fond of the bottom of a stone wall with an escape on either side, and in such situations I have searched and pulled down stones for hours in a vain attempt to secure them. The birds are very noisy on being approached, and have the same kind of call as the Stonechat, only louder, and with a more plaintive and distinct "wee" before the "chat-chat." Their flight is short and jerky, and they generally settle on walls or stones, or on the ground. They hop with great facility, and hover in the air at times like a Flycatcher while in pursuit of insects. They must be very common in Norway, for their eggs may be purchased there for a half-penny each. I never saw one settle on a tree. The white feathers on the tail are very conspicuous when they fly.— Whinchats, or as they are called here, "Uticks," from their call-note, prefer more cultivated districts, or the neighbourhood of more cultivated districts, than the two preceding species. They arrive in the midland counties early in May, and breed about the middle or end of that month, choosing meadows, mowing grass, and banks by the side of roads, as well as places similar to those selected by the Stonechat. They are often to be found, too, on commons and waste places. The nest is most difficult to find, unless the mowers come across it, which they not unfrequently do. It is built on the ground, and one I found on a bank where there was some furze had a run through the grass to it. I was beating about, and started the bird. The nest contained six dull-blue eggs, very like those of the Hedgesparrow. It is often built at the bottom of a hedge or in the grass at the foot of it, and is a loose structure of grass and moss, lined with fine grass and a few hairs. Sometimes the eggs have a few brown spots on them. The song of the Whinchat is sweet and wild, and the bird may be