. A history of British birds . white,and the alar patch smaller than in the male. Young birds in their nestling plumage have a generalresemblance to the young of the Redstart, but each featherof the upper parts has a decided median stripe of buff; thewing-coverts, tertials and upper tail-coverts are broadly-bordered with chestnut; the tail is blackish, edged withrufous, and the lower parts are less mottled. The malesafter their first moult resemble adult females, and graduallyattain the adult plumage. The genus Saxlcola has been variously subdivided bywriters ; but little can be said for most
. A history of British birds . white,and the alar patch smaller than in the male. Young birds in their nestling plumage have a generalresemblance to the young of the Redstart, but each featherof the upper parts has a decided median stripe of buff; thewing-coverts, tertials and upper tail-coverts are broadly-bordered with chestnut; the tail is blackish, edged withrufous, and the lower parts are less mottled. The malesafter their first moult resemble adult females, and graduallyattain the adult plumage. The genus Saxlcola has been variously subdivided bywriters ; but little can be said for most of the groups estab-lished at its expense. Its smaller members however diflerso much in habit from the many true Wheateara, that theseparation of the former seems to be in some measureexcusable, and the majority of modern ornithologists re-cognize the validity of the genus Pratlncola, founded in1816, by Koch, for the reception of the Stonechat andWhinchat, with of course their allied forms. 344 PASSERHS. :.. Saxicola rubetea (LiimaBus*).THE WHINCHAT. Saxicola ruhetra. The Whinchat, or Furzecliat, is, iu its habits, and iu someof the localities it frequents, very similar to the bird lastdescribed. Its obvious partiality to places overgrown withfurze or whins, has induced its most common names; and,like the Stonechat, it flits from bush to bush, generally perch-ing on one of the uppermost twigs. Yet the Whinchat isnot nearly so much restricted to heaths or commons as theStonechat, but also affects enclosed fields and meadows, andis often abundant in reclaimed fen-land. It further differsfrom its congener in being almost exclusively a migrant,and very few authentic instances of its being observed inthe British Islands in winter are recorded. The Whinchat makes its appearance in the southern andsouth-eastern parts of this country about the middle of April, ■ Motaci/lu rnbdra, Liumyus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 332 (1776). WHINCHAT. 345 and arrives in the northe
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds
