stonechat

[ stohn-chat ]

noun

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

stonechat

/ ˈstəʊnˌtʃæt /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of stonechat¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of stonechat¹

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

Example Sentences

But then suddenly, Graeme's efforts pay off as we sight a stonechat, the feathered fiend who had evaded us earlier, sitting happily atop a fence post.

From BBC

Land-sparing urban areas are breeding grounds for birds that lay many eggs, use open nests more frequently, and have short life cycles, such as stonechats, chiffchaffs and crested larks.

From Science Daily

Ornithologist Barbara Hall from the University of Groningen and her colleagues, for example, studied European stonechats, small songbirds that they caught and then bred in captivity.

From Science Magazine

The stonechat is “the very acme of alertness.”

From New York Times

There were stonechats and whinchats then as now.

From Project Gutenberg