521 Dates of Arrival of 'Twenty-nine Migratory Birds 



selects a deserted rabbit burrow, in which it places its nest at 

 some little distance from the entrance ; it is composed of 

 diled roots intermixed with feathers, rabbit's down, and other 

 light substances ; and it generally contains six light blue eggs. 

 The nest is easily detected by a little observation; for, in such 

 situations, the old birds amass a considerable number of small 

 pieces of the withered stalks of the brake (Pteris aquilina) 

 on the outside, at the entrance of the burrow : by noticing 

 this circumstance its nest is sure to be discovered. They all 

 take their departure, by the end of August, for the Sussex and 

 Dorsetshire downs, where an immense number is annually 

 caught for the London market, they being esteemed a great 

 delicacy. It appeal's from Pennant, that the number of these 

 birds annually ensnared in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, 

 Sussex, amounted to about 1840 dozens. 



Norfolk Plover (CEdicnemus crepitans Temm.) is very nu- 

 merously distributed over all our warrens and fallow lands, 

 during the breeding season, which commences about the second 

 week in April ; the female depositing her pair of eggs upon 

 the bare ground, without any nest whatever. It is generally 

 supposed that the males take no part in the labour of in- 

 cubation: this, I suspect, is not the case. Wishing to procure 

 for a friend a few specimens in their breeding plumage, I 

 employed a boy to take them for me. This he did by ensnaring 

 them on the nest; and the result was, that all those he caught 

 during the day proved, upon dissection, to be males. They as- 

 semble in flocks previously to their departure, which is usually 

 by the end of October ; but, should the weather continue open, 

 a few will remain to a much later period. I started one as 

 late as the 9th of December, in the autumn of 1834. 



Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba Linn.). — A few pairs remain 

 with us during the winter, which are considerably increased 

 by arrivals in the spring. On the 7th of May, 1834, in the 

 evening, I disturbed a flock of more than fifty individuals, 

 from among a bed of reeds, on which they were roosting. I 

 am not aware of having seen so many of this species congre- 

 gated together before ; and, from the circumstance of their 

 being so collected, they had, in all probability, only recently 

 arrived in this district. Its congener, the Grey Wagtail (M. 

 Boarula Linn.), very sparingly visits us in the autumn, and 

 remains during the winter months ; but on the approach of 

 spring it departs to the northward, for the purpose of nidifi- 

 cation : whereas the Yellow Wagtail (M.Jldva Linn.) arrives 

 with us in the spring, although not very plentifully, and, after 

 having performed this office, departs in the autumn. 



Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus Temm.). Although this 



