This species does not live, as its name might be taken to imply, in stony wildernesses, but upon furze-clad commons and uncultivated land where juniper, brambles, and other kinds of tangled vegetation grow. The nest is built upon or near the ground, and is generally well concealed. It consists of rootlets, moss, and dry grass, with an inner lining of hair, feathers, and occasionally pieces of wool. I have often seen it with very little else than fine blades of dead grass. The eggs number from four to six, and on rare occasions even seven have been found. They are of a pale bluish-green ground colour, closely spotted round the larger end with reddish-brown. Sometimes the spots are entirely absent. The Stonechat, although subject to local movement, stays with us all the year round. Its soft, low song, although of no great length or importance, is sweet and pleasing, and sometimes contains imitations of other birds’ notes. It is delivered both whilst the singer is at rest and hovering in the air. The male helps the female to feed the young ones, and in the case of the chicks hatched from the eggs figured on the previous page he had the whole of the domestic work to do because his mate disappeared altogether a few days after the young ones had been hatched. The call note resembles the sound made by striking two small pebbles together in the hand, hence its name of Stonechat. It has been written down as _u-tic, u-tic_. After the young are hatched it changes somewhat and sounds like _chuck, chuck_. [Illustration: landscape with hillsides] =THE WHINCHAT.= [Illustration: cluster of flowers] The Whinchat arrives in this country during April, and takes its departure again in September and October. It is about five inches and a quarter in length, and has the crown of the head and upper parts generally of a dusky-brown colour, the feathers being edged with sandy buff. The wings are marked with a large white spot. Upper half of tail white, lower half dark brown edged with sandy buff. A broad white stripe runs from the base of the bill over the eye. Chin is white, throat and breast are light chestnut, under parts pale buff. In the female the white line over the eye and the spot upon the wing are less conspicuous, and the colour of her under parts is less distinctive. [Illustration: WHINCHAT’S NEST AND EGGS.] This species, although somewhat local, is met with nearly all over the British Isles. It is partial to heaths and commons, pastures, and meadows, where it makes its nest on or near the ground in thick tangled grass, heather, and at the bottom of small gorse bushes. The structure is formed of dead grass and moss with an inner lining of fine, dry grass and sometimes horsehair. The eggs number from four to six, of a greenish-blue ground colour, sometimes spotted on the larger end with reddish-brown.