stonechat

[ stohn-chat ]

/ ˈstoʊnˌtʃæt /

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

Origin of stonechat

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

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

In a Cheshire Garden |Geoffrey Egerton-Warburton
But the rock stood still, and a stonechat went and perched on it.

The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI. |Various
That delightful, restless little bird, the stonechat, is a near relation of the wheatear.

Birds in Flight |W. P. Pycraft
It is difficult to put oneself in the place of the Stonechat or of the Whinchat.

Territory in Bird Life |H. Eliot Howard

This was on April 23rd, and there were four eggs of the Stonechat.

Wild Spain (Espaa agreste) |Abel Chapman

stonechat

/ (ˈstəʊnˌtʃæt) /

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

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