tinent. In the Cyclades it is a winter-bird ; in Greece and
Italy it is partly resident and partly migratory. In Sicily
and Sardinia it is resident, as it also is in Provence and
Southern Spain, where it breeds in the plains. In Portugal
it is said to be extremely abundant, and it is found throughout
the rest of France and in Belgium and Holland, where
it is migratory*.
The adult male, in May, has the bill black ; the irides
dark brown : the head, throat, nape and back, nearly black,
many of the feathers, on the scapulars and lower part of the
back especially, being edged with reddish-brown ; coverts
of the tertials white, forming a conspicuous patch on the
wing ; upper tail-coverts white, tipped with black and reddish-
brown ; quills above black, edged with reddish-brown, beneath
lead-grey with lighter edges ; sides of the neck white ;
breast rich bay, becoming lighter, almost yellowish-white,
on the belly ; vent and under tail-coverts, axillaries and
lower wing-coverts mottled with black and white, either
* The difficulty of defining a “ species” and deciding what to consider such,
is made very plain by an examination of an extensive series of Stonechats from
various localities. As already mentioned, the Stonechats of South Africa and of
Southern and Eastern Asia which most resemble our own, have been separated
from it and from each other, and their diagnostic characters have been laid down
with much show of precision. I t will be found that though these can in part be
trusted, specimens are not uncommon which completely set at naught these care-
fully prescribed distinctions, or offer only such minute differences as scarcely any
ornithologist would deem sufficient to establish a local race. Leaving for the
moment such birds as the Indian S. caprata and S. ferrea, which, allied though
they are to our Stonechat, naturalists, in general, would willingly consider distinct
and good species, we have the Stonechat of Réunion, S. borbonica, wherein the two
sexes somewhat resemble each other, and this must be regarded as distinct. Then
we have the Madagascar bird, S. sibilla, plainly allied to S. borbonica, while still
more approaching the South-Africa S. torquata, though certainly not to be confounded
with it. But S. torquata only differs from S. ivdica in its larger size
and deeper tints, while we find Stonechats from North Africa and Southern
Europe which defy the closest scrutiny to distinguish them from Indian examples
on the one hand, and cannot be separated from the true S. rubicola on the other.
Then returning to the other Indian species, S. caprata and S. ferrea already
mentioned, we find that in some measure 8. ferrea approaches S. borbonica, and,
though the intei'mediate links are wanting, is not more distinct from S. borbonica
than th a t is from the typical S. rubicola, between which the connection through
S. sibilla and S. torquata can be traced ; nor does S. caprata differ more from
S. ferrea than S. ferrea does from S. rubicola.
colour at times almost entirely prevailing; legs, toes and
claws black.
The whole length five inches and a quarter. From the
carpal joint to the end of the longest quill, two inches and
three-quarters : the first quill not half so long as the second ;
the second equal to the seventh; the third or fourth the
longest, but the fifth and sixth nearly equal.
Adult males in autumn have nearly all the feathers more
or less broadly edged with reddish-brown ; the breast and
belly lighter than in summer.
The adult female has the feathers of the upper parts
blackish-brown, bordered with buff, and the edges of the
quills lighter than in the male; the chin buff, throat blackish,
breast dull re d ; the sides of the neck brownish-white,
and the alar patch smaller than in the male.
Young birds in their nestling plumage have a general
resemblance to the young of the Redstart, but each feather
of the upper parts has a decided median stripe of buff; the
wing-coverts, tertials and upper tail-coverts are broadly
bordered with chestnut; the tail is blackish, edged with
rufous, and the lower parts are less mottled. The males
after their first moult resemble adult females, and gradually
attain the adult plumage.
The genus Saxícola lias been variously subdivided by
writers ; but little can be said for most of the groups established
at its expense. Its smaller members however differ
so much in habit from the many true Wheatears, that the
separation of the former seems to be in some measure
excusable, and the majority of modern ornithologists recognize
the validity of the genus Pratíncola, founded in
1816, by Kocli, for the reception of the Stonechat and
Whinchat, with of course their allied forms.