STONE CHATTER, in ornithology. See MOTACILLA.
STONEHENGE, in antiquity, a famed pile or monument of huge stones on Salisbury plain, six miles distant from that city.
It consists of the remains of four ranks of rough stones, ranged one within another, some of them, especially in the outermost and third rank, twenty feet high, and seven broad; sustaining others laid across their heads, and fastened by mortises; so that the whole must have anciently hung together.
Antiquaries are now pretty well agreed that it was a British temple; and Dr Langwith thinks it might easily be made probable, at least, that it was dedicated to the sun and moon. Inigo Jones has given a fine scheme of the work, and strives hard to persuade the world, that it was Roman; but Dr Langwith, who took his measures on the spot, assures us he could by no means reconcile them with that scheme.