stonechat

[ stohn-chat ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

any of several small Old World birds, especially of the genus Saxicola, as S. torquata.

stonechat

/ ˈstəʊnˌtʃæt /

an Old World songbird, Saxicola torquata, having a black plumage with a reddish-brown breast: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes)

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1775–85; stone + chat, so called from its warning cry which sounds like a clash of stones

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C18: so called from its cry, which sounds like clattering pebbles

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Only once have I seen a stonechat in the neighbourhood of this garden.

That delightful, restless little bird, the stonechat, is a near relation of the wheatear.

Mr. Blyth also informs me that the sexes of the stonechat, Saxicola rubicola, are distinguishable at a very early age.

But the rock stood still, and a stonechat went and perched on it.

It is difficult to put oneself in the place of the Stonechat or of the Whinchat.

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