Editing European stonechat

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = European stonechat
| image = {{CSS image crop|Image= Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) male, Beaulieu, Hampshire.jpg|bSize=260|cWidth=220|cHeight=250|oTop=0|oLeft=30|Location=center}}
| image_caption=Male ''S. r. hibernana''<br />[[Hampshire]], [[UK]]
| image2 = Saxicola rubicola -Belgium -female-8 (1).jpg
| image2_caption = Female ''S. r. rubicola''<br />[[Belgium]] [[File:Common Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (W1CDR0001536 BD16).ogg|thumb|center|Recorded in [[Surrey]] ]]
| taxon = Saxicola rubicola
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766)
| synonyms = *''Motacilla rubicola'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1766}}
* ''Saxicola torquatus rubicola'' {{small|(Linnaeus,&nbsp;1766)}}
* ''Pratincola rubicola'' {{small|(Linnaeus)}}<ref name=pratincola>{{cite book |last=Bonhote |first=J. Lewis |author-link=J. Lewis Bonhote |others=illustrated by [[Henry Eeles Dresser|H.E. Dresser]]
|title=Birds of Britain 
|date=1907 |location=London |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |url=https://archive.org/stream/birdsofbritain00bonh/birdsofbritain00bonh#page/29
|oclc=1451688
|pages=29/31}}</ref>
}}

The '''European stonechat''' ('''''Saxicola rubicola''''') is a small [[passerine]] [[bird]] that was formerly classed as a [[subspecies]] of the [[common stonechat]]. Long considered a member of the [[Thrush (bird)|thrush]] family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the [[Old World flycatcher]] family, Muscicapidae. It is found across [[Europe]], as far east as [[Ukraine]] and the [[South Caucasus]], and in parts of North Africa.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-X2BgZXCM8C |page=40 |title=Stonechats: A Guide to the Genus Saxicola |first=Ewan |last=Urquhart |publisher=A & C Black, 1 Jan |year=2002|isbn=978-0-7136-6024-1 }}</ref>

==Taxonomy and systematics==
The European stonechat was [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1766 in the [[12th edition of Systema Naturae|twelfth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Motacilla rubicola''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii  | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | page=332 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946528}}</ref> This species is now placed in the [[genus]] ''[[Saxicola]]'' that was introduced by the German naturalist [[Johann Matthäus Bechstein]] in 1802.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bechstein  | first=Johann Matthäus | author-link=Johann Matthäus Bechstein | year=1802 | title=Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte | page=216 | place=Leipzig | publisher=Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter | language=de | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41098826 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2021 | title=Chats, Old World flycatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=3 July 2021 }}</ref> The English name derives from its call, sounding like two stones knocked together. The scientific name ''Saxicola'' means "rock-dweller", from [[Latin]] ''saxum'' meaning "a rock" and ''incola'' meaning "dwelling in". The specific epithet combines the Latin ''[[rubus]]'' meaning "brambles" with ''incola''.<ref name =job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n339 339], 349}}</ref> The subspecies name ''hibernans'' refers to Ireland (Latin, ''Hibernia'').

In the past, the European stonechat was generally considered [[conspecific]] with the [[Siberian stonechat]] and [[African stonechat]], lumped together as [[common stonechat]] ''S. torquatus''. A 2002 study using [[mtDNA]] [[cytochrome b|cytochrome ''b'']] [[DNA sequence|sequences]] and nuclear DNA microsatellite fingerprinting evidence strongly supported their separation into distinct species.<ref name=Urquhart/><ref name=Wink/> Due to a misunderstanding of the rules of Zoological nomenclature, for a short time the name ''S. torquatus'' was erroneously used for the European stonechat rather than the African stonechat.<ref name=Wink/>

Together with the [[Siberian stonechat]] and [[Canary Islands stonechat]], the European stonechat constitutes eastern and western representatives of a [[Eurasia]]n lineage; the Asian and European populations separated during the [[Late Pliocene]] or [[Early Pleistocene]], roughly 1.5–2.5 [[mya (unit)|mya]], and [[Fuerteventura]] was colonised by western European or northwest African birds somewhat later in the Early Pleistocene, about 1–2 mya.<ref name=Wink/>

===Subspecies===
Two weakly defined [[subspecies]] are currently recognised:<ref name=ioc/><ref name=Urquhart/>

* ''S. r. hibernans'' ([[Ernst Hartert|Hartert, E]], 1910) – Northwestern Europe in [[Atlantic]] coastal areas, in southwestern Norway, Great Britain, Ireland and northwestern France. Birds in coastal Portugal are also often listed as this subspecies,<ref name=Urquhart/> but this is disputed.<ref name=Siddle>{{cite journal | last=Siddle | first=J.P. | year=2006 | title=Which subspecies of Common Stonechat breeds in coastal Portugal? | journal=British Birds | volume=99 | pages=372–374 | url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V99/V99_N07/V99_N07_P372_375_L005.pdf | access-date=2021-07-03 | archive-date=2021-07-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182955/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V99/V99_N07/V99_N07_P372_375_L005.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>
* ''S. r. rubicola'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766) – In the south and east of its range, from Denmark southwest to Spain and Morocco, east to Poland and Ukraine, and southeast to Turkey. Winters in North Africa and the Middle East.

==Description==
[[File:European stonechat, juvenile.jpg|thumb|left|Juvenile in [[Spain]]]]

The stonechat is {{cvt|11.5|–|13|cm}} long and weighs {{cvt|13|–|17|g}}, slightly smaller than the [[European robin]]. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory [[whinchat]] and [[Siberian stonechat]]. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast, and a white belly and vent. It also has a white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings, and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head, and no white neck patches, rump or belly, these areas being streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.<ref name=Urquhart>Urquhart, E., & Bowley, A. (2002): ''Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola''. [[Helm Identification Guides|Christopher Helm]], London. {{ISBN|0-7136-6024-4}}</ref>

The two subspecies differ in colour intensity following [[Gloger's rule]], with ''S. r. rubicola'' paler and with larger white patches in the drier European [[continental climate|continental]] and [[mediterranean climate]]s, and ''S. r. hibernans'' darker brown with less white in the humid Atlantic [[oceanic climate]]. They intergrade broadly where their ranges meet, from southeastern England<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Kehoe | first=Chris | year= 2006 | title=Racial identification and assessment in Britain: a report from the RIACT subcommittee | journal=British Birds | volume=99 | pages=619–645 [635–636] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51254094 }}</ref> south through France and Spain, and many individuals are not identifiable to subspecies. Extreme examples of ''S. r. rubicola'' from the driest southern areas of its range such as the [[Algarve]] and [[Sicily]] are particularly pale and with a large white rump, and can be very similar to [[Siberian stonechat]]s in appearance.<ref name=Siddle/><ref name=Corso>{{cite journal | last=Corso | first=Andrea | date=2001 | title=Plumages of Common Stonechats in Sicily and comparison with vagrant Siberian Stonechats | journal=British Birds | volume=94 | pages=315–318 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51011275 }}</ref> [[nDNA]] [[Microsatellite (genetics)|microsatellite]] [[DNA fingerprinting|fingerprinting]] reveals a very small degree of separation between the two subspecies.<ref name=Wink>{{cite journal | last1=Wink | first1=M. | last2=Sauer-Gürth | first2=H. | last3=Gwinner | first3=E. | year=2002 | title=Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic fingerprinting | journal=British Birds | volume=95 | pages=349–355 | url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V95/V95_N07/V95_N07_P349_355_A004.pdf | access-date=2017-09-01 | archive-date=2022-06-11 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611095730/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V95/V95_N07/V95_N07_P349_355_A004.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The male's song is high and twittering like a [[dunnock]]. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together.

==Distribution and habitat==
European stonechats breed in [[heath (habitat)|heathland]], coastal [[dune]]s and rough [[grassland]] with scattered small [[shrub]]s and [[bramble]], open [[gorse]], tussocks or [[Calluna|heather]]. They are short-distance [[bird migration|migrants]] or non-migratory, with part of the population (particularly from northeastern parts of the range, where winters are colder) moving south to winter further south in Europe and more widely in north Africa.<ref name=Urquhart/>

==Behaviour and ecology==
[[File:Saxicola rubicola 232 HdB Ouarsenis Algérie.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|Eggs]]
===Breeding===
European stonechats first breed when they are one year old. They are monogamous during the breeding season but do not pair for life. The nest is built entirely by the female and is placed in dense vegetation close to the ground. It is a loose unwoven cup of dried grass lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are laid in early morning at daily intervals. The clutch is typically 4–6 eggs, which are pale blue to greenish-blue with red-brown freckles that are more numerous at the larger end. The average size of an egg is {{convert|18.7|x|14.4|mm|in|abbr=on}} with a weight of {{convert|2.0|g|oz|abbr=on}}. They are incubated for 13–14 days by the female beginning after the last egg is laid. Both parents care for and feed the chicks. They are brooded by the female. The nestlings fledge 12–16 days after hatching but continue to be fed by both parents for a further 4–5 days after which the female begins building a new nest for another brood while the male continues to feed the young for another 5–10 days. The parents raise two or three broods in a season.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Cramp | editor1-first=Stanley | display-editors=etal | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | year=1988 | chapter=''Saxicola torquata'' Stonechat | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic | volume=V: Tyrant Flycatchers to Thrushes | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=737–751 | isbn=978-0-19-857508-5 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last=Johnson | first=E.D.H. | date=1971 | title=Observations on a resident population of Stonechats in Jersey | journal=British Birds | volume=64 | pages=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48597547 201-213], [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48597627 267-279] }}<!--Better quality scan of first part available https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V64/V64_N05/V64_N05_P201_213_A035.pdf --></ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Callion |first=John |date=November 2015 |title=Some Observations of Breeding European Stonechats in Cumbria |url=https://britishbirds.co.uk/content/some-observations-breeding-european-stonechats-cumbria |journal=British Birds |volume=108 |issue=11 |pages=648–659 }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Helm |first1=B. |last2=Fiedler |first2=W. |last3=Callion |first3=J. |date=March 2006 |title=Movements of European Stonechats ''Saxicola torquata'' According to Ringing Recoveries |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281654524 |journal=Ardea |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=33–44 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikispecies|Saxicola rubicola}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202065618/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/334_StonechatStorquatus.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]

{{portal bar|Birds|Animals}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q838665}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of North Africa]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1766]]
[[Category:Saxicola]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]