stonechat

[ stohn-chat ]

noun

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

Words Nearby stonechat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use stonechat in a sentence

Only once have I seen a stonechat in the neighbourhood of this garden.
In a Cheshire Garden | Geoffrey Egerton-Warburton
That delightful, restless little bird, the stonechat, is a near relation of the wheatear.
Birds in Flight | W. P. Pycraft
Mr. Blyth also informs me that the sexes of the stonechat, Saxicola rubicola, are distinguishable at a very early age.
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex | Charles Darwin
But the rock stood still, and a stonechat went and perched on it.
The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI. | Various
It is difficult to put oneself in the place of the stonechat or of the Whinchat.
Territory in Bird Life | H. Eliot Howard

British Dictionary definitions for stonechat

stonechat

/ (ˈstəʊnˌtʃæt) /

noun

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

Origin of stonechat

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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