neck to the wing white; breast rich chestnut, becoming
lighter, almost yellowish white, on the belly, vent, and under
tail-coverts; under surface of the quill-feathers lead-grey.,
edged with dull white ; legs, toes, and claws, black.
The whole length of the bird five inches and one-quarter.
From the carpal joint of the wing to the end of the longest
quill-feathers two inches and three-quarters : the first quill-
feather not half so long as the second; the second equal to
the seventh; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, nearly equal ;
the fourth rather the longest of all.
Adult males after their autumn moult have the feathers of
the neck and back broadly edged with rufous brown ; quill-
feathers margined, and tail-feathers tipped with the same
rufous colour; the dark feathers on the throat edged with
rufous brown ; the breast and belly lighter in colour than in
summer.
The adult female has the feathers of the upper parts blackish
brown, bordered with buff; the quill and tail-feathers
brown, edged with buff; throat blackish, varied with small
spots of white and red ; the white space on the neck and
wings of smaller extent than in the male; breast dull red.
Young birds in their nestling plumage have the feathers of
the upper parts of a greyish brown, with a spot of white at
the end.
Young males after their first moult resemble adult females;
after their second moult they attain by degrees the plumage
of adult males.
TH E W H IN CH A T .
Sylvia rubetra, The Whinchat,
Motacilla ,, ”
Saxicola ,
, Traquet tarier,
P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 525.
M ont. Ornith. Diet.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 277.
F lem. Brit. An. p. 67.
Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 183.
J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 120.
G ould, Birds of Europe, pt. i.
T emm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 244.
T h e W h i n c h a t , or Furzechat, is in its habits, and also
in the localities it frequents, very similar to the Stonechat,
last described. Its obvious partiality to furze, which is also
in many parts of England called whin, has induced its most
common names ; and, like the Stonechat, it darts along with an
undulating flight from bush to bush, always perching on one of
the uppermost twigs. There is one difference between the