CHAPTER VI.

STONE-CHATS, HEDGE AND ALPINE ACCENTORS, WHINCHAT, BLACK-HEADED BUSHCHAT, WHEATEAR.

THER

HE Saxicoline Birds, or Stonechats, and their allied species, form a tolerably large group, some of which are placed in other families by authors who do not recognise the principles of arrangement which have guided Macgillivray. The Saxicoline,' he says, 'reside chiefly in stony places and open pastures, especially those covered with small shrubs; but some of them frequent woods. On the ground they advance by hopping. Their ordinary flight is moderately rapid, and somewhat undulated. They search for food on the ground, in vales, or among thickets, and often pursue insects on wing. Their nests are large, and lined with soft materials, and the prevailing colour of their eggs is blue. Most of them are migratory, and those which are permanently resident, shift their quarters, frequenting the neighbourhood of houses in winter."

Closely allied to the Thrushes and Larks, and blending directly with the Warblers, they present no abrupt and decided characters which could enable a student at once to refer a species to the family, and for this reason it is that their position has ever been somewhat variable and uncertain. In this country we have five genera, represented by nine species, which we now proceed to describe.

THE HEDGE CHANTER (Accentor modularis), more commonly called the Hedge Sparrow, Hedge Warbler, or Dunnock; sometimes Dick Dunnock or Shuffle-wing. A familiar, gentle, and modest little bird this, with sober plumage of mingled grey and brown, quiet, unobtrusive manners, and a weak but pleasantly modulated song; common enough in all our gardens, fields, and hedges, and

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AN EARLY BUILDER.

perhaps to some extent despised, because it is so common, and, above all, so modest. Its nest is plundered by every schoolboy, and its glossy greenish blue eggs, without spot or stain, form the chief ornaments of every rustic oological collection. Indeed, so many of these eggs are taken every year that, as Knapp observes, It is surprising how any of the race are remaining, especially when we consider the many casualties to which the old birds are exposed from their tameness, and the young that are hatched from their situations.' This bird is a very early builder; it makes its nest of mosses, twigs, and the fibres of roots, lines it with hair, fur, or wool, and places it in the bottom of a bush or hedge, very commonly before the leaves have made much progress; so that being large, from four and a-half, to five inches in diameter, it is easily seen and rifled of its contents, and year after year the little bird continues to build, and its numbers appear as numerous as though it were subjected to no molestation and spoliation and persecution from man.

The celebrated American ornithologist, Audubon, was an admirer of the despised Hedge Sparrow, and called it 'a beautiful little bird, referring,' as Macgillivray remarks, more to its moral than its physical character. Perhaps so; yet it is beautiful outwardly, we think; its sober tints are prettily blended, its shape is graceful, and its motions easy and elegant. Its song, as Neville Wood says, 'although unobtrusive as its plumage, is remarkable for the sweetness of its expression; it is, however, short and deficient in power. By the careless observer it probably passes wholly unnoticed, though it certainly deserves the commendation of the birdfancier.' Bishop Mant speaks of

The Hedge-row Chanter's chirrup, sharp
As twanging string of lute or harp.

But the note is rather soft and sweet than sharp. Bechstein includes it in his Cage Birds, and speaks of it as gay and amusing in confinement, and easily tamed. The notes are usually uttered from the middle, or top of a hedge, or low bank, and occasionally from the lower branches of The whole song appears to consist of but two passages, and these are commonly uttered without a pause.

trees.

THE INCUBATING FROG.

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At a short distance it is inaudible, but when heard close, forms a very pleasing melody, especially when listened to at early dawn, or towards the dusk of evening. Though it forms no part of the vernal chorus, the true lover of nature always hails it with delight, especially as it is one of the first of the family to break the universal silence which had prevailed during the dreary and monotonous winter months. The song is frequently heard as early as the middle of February, and towards the close of the following month the happy pair proceed to prepare for the business of incubation.'

Thus, says Neville Wood, who states that this bird has generally second, and sometimes third broods in a season, which are, of course, better concealed than the first, owing to the growth of the foliage, and thus the numbers of the birds are kept up. Two or three instances of the Dunnock's building in outhouses have fallen under the author's observation. One of them was among bushes of various kinds, which had been rooted up, and thrown into a corner of the garden-house. In this instance the female had hatched her young; but, when they were about a week old, the place was, contrary to orders, locked up from Saturday evening to Monday morning, and the female being excluded, of course the young brood perished. In another instance, the nest was built on a bundle of pea-sticks in an outbuilding, and the young were hatched and reared successfully. Once the nest was fixed on the stone of a garden roller, which had long been in a little-frequented spot unused. But the funniest circumstance in the author's experience of this bird was finding on its nest in a lavender bush a fat and full-grown frog, gravely seated on the nest, containing five Hedge-dunnock's eggs. The reptile kept its place for some hours, as if it meant to hatch the eggs, and was only turned off by main force. Probably disgusted at such an intrusion, the parent birds never returned to their charge.

Insects of various kinds, larvæ, and the seeds of different grasses, constitute the food of this species. It does not eat green food, nor fruit, and is therefore of unmixed benefit to the gardener. Again, to quote Wood:

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6

THE ALPINE ACCENTOR.

It is almost wholly a ground or bush bird, being seldom observed in trees, except during the breeding season, when any one is near its nest. The hedge is, likewise, one of its favourite haunts, and the interstices of the thickest of these it threads with ease and agility in quest of its food. Its flight is low, and never long protracted; and in flying from bush to bush a loose shuffle of the wings and tail is frequently observed, and especially in summer; whence the expressive popular name, Shuffle-wing,' by which the bird is known in many parts of the country. Whilst singing, also, the same kind of quivering motion of the wings and tail is employed, as well as in darting on a worm or caterpillar on the ground, in hopping along which it has likewise a peculiar habit of flirting up its tail, and turning quickly from side to side. All its habits are, in fact, simple and unaffected, insomuch, that it either passes wholly unobserved by the ordinary observer, or is mistaken for the House Sparrow.

THE ALPINE CHANTER (Accentor Alpinus).-This is a rare visitant, about which we need say but little. It resembles the Hedge Sparrow in its shape and general appearance, but is somewhat larger, generally measuring about seven inches in length: it is, too, somewhat differently coloured, and more definitely marked, having a white throat, with triangular black spots, and wing coverts barred with white; the greater part of the body is light brownish grey, the back having dusky spots, and the sides a reddish tint. Bechstein says that

this bird is found upon the mountains which skirt the Alps, in Switzerland, and Southern Germany. In those pasture lands it is as abundant as the Skylark with us. In winter it visits the valleys, and frequents barns near villages, where it is commonly caught in great numbers. They generally perch upon the ground, where they run as swiftly as the Wagtails, jump upon stones, and but rarely perch upon trees; their song is pleasing, but anxious and melancholy; they comport themselves elegantly, and in hopping frequently move the tail and wings; they feed upon seeds and insects, and build upon the ground, occasionally in the fissures of rocks, and are thence sometimes called Rock Larks.

THE WHIN BUSHCHAT (Saxicola, or Fruticicola rubetra), sometimes called the Whin, or Furze Chat. The plumage of this little bird is chiefly of a bright yellowish red colour, with blackish brown markings. There is a yellowish white band over the eye, a patch on the wing, a band on each side of the neck, and the base of the tail are also white ; the length of the bird is about five inches and a quarter; it is but a summer resident in our island, seldom arriving on the coast till the middle of April, nor is it dispersed over the country till the end of that month, or the beginning of