26 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



here are also frequently chosen. Again, it is not unusual 

 here to find the Wheatear's nest in a depression on the 

 bare beach. In a case like this dry grass alone is used^ 

 the nest resembling then a large edition of the Lark's. 

 The normal feather-hning is absent, and m this wa}^ con- 

 spicuousness is nicely avoided. If not disturbed, I fancy 

 the AVheatear returns annually to the same nesting-site." 



On May 10 and 14, 1900, Mr. T. Hepburn found the 

 Wheatear " nesting everywhere. Found two nests in 

 crevices of the military earthworks, one in an empty shell- 

 case and another in an empty tin can. The eggs in one of 

 the nests were fresh, in the other hard set. June 3 to 4 : 

 Found a nest with three fresh eggs in a crack in a bank 

 of earth. July 16 to 21 : Old and young birds all over 

 the beach and adjacent meadows." 



In his Notes on the Birds of Bomney Marsh and Little- 

 stone," May 18, 1902, Mr. E. F. M. Elms writes : " Saxicola 

 (jenanthe. A pretty, conspicuous bird, and abundant 

 throughout the district, more especially on the waste 

 lands and the golf-links. Incubation had not apparently 

 become general, and, as a consequence, very few birds 

 flew up from their nesting-holes. One nest only brought 

 to light to-day, and contained five fresh eggs, slightly 

 pear-shaped. May 20 : Flushed a Wheatear from a small 

 hole (certainly not a rabbit-burrow) in some open and 

 rather broken ground, near the golf-links. Some withered 

 stalks were scattered at the entrance to the hole, some 

 just inside, but the nest itself was entirely invisible from 

 the outside, and, if the soil had not been loose and givmg, 

 I doubt whether I should have tracked the nest at all. 

 The nesting-cavity contained a fairly compact structure — 

 certainly more compact and bulky than was necessary 

 in such a protected situation — composed of dead grass 



