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middle feathers, which are blackish-brown throughout. The
cheeks, chin and throat black; breast and sides dark sooty-
grey, becoming slate-grey on the belly, and lighter 011 the
vent and lower tail-coverts, which are tinged with re d ; lower
wing-coverts dull greyish-white; the primaries lead-grey,
and tail bay, beneath : legs, toes and claws, black.
The whole length is five inches and three-quarters. From
the carpal joint to the tip of the wing, three inches and
three-eighths : the second and seventh quills nearly equal;
the third, fourth and fifth longer than the sixth, nearly
equal and longest.
The female is not very unlike that of the preceding species,
but is generally somewhat darker. The upper parts are of a
dull brownish-grey, the tertials margined with buffy-white ;
tail more dusky, and the outer pair of feathers with the outer
web brown ; the body beneath light grey.
The young birds in their first plumage are said to resemble
adult females; but the changes the males undergo before
they assume the perfect plumage, and the length of time the
process takes do not seem to be well understood. Young
males sometimes breed in immature plumage, and birds so
behaving were once regarded by M. Gferbe as a distinct
species, to which he gave the name of Ruticilla cairii, but
he has since relinquished that opinion.
The vignette represents the nest from the plate in
Scliinz’s work before mentioned.
S axicola r u b ic o la (Linmeus*).
THE STONECHAT.
Saxicola rubicola.
Saxicola, Bechsteinf .—Bill straight, broad at the base ; the upper mandible
receding towards the forehead, compressed towards the tip, which is decurved
and more or less indented. Nostrils basal, supernal and oval. Gape beset by
a few hairs. Wings with the first quill-feather very short ; the second shorter
than the third, fourth, or in some cases the fifth ; the third or fourth the longest;
coverts and scapulars short. Feet with the tarsi long, covered in front by one
long scale, to which succeed two or three shorter ones ; the outer toe partly
united to the middle toe ; hind claw short, strong and curved.
The S t o n e c h a t , a migratory species over most of that
part of the European Continent where it occurs at all, is a
constant resident in this country, though doubtless some of
those bred here leave us in autumn, to return in the following
spring. Many may be seen throughout the winter 011
most of our furze-grown commons and heaths, but should
the weather prove very severe, they leave these exposed
* Motacilla rubicola, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 332 (1766).
f Ornitliologisches Tasclienbuch, i. p. 216 (1802).