There are some 22 species of wheatear, a small mainly ground-dwelling bird. Wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species. The name stone-chack (as in stonechat) was originally attributed to the wheatear because it perched on moorland stones while uttering it's chat call. Birds breed mainly in western and northern Britain and western Ireland, although smaller numbers do breed in southern and eastern England. It winters in central Africa.
