22 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



a dozen yards of it by creeping behind hedges. In its move- 

 ments it was very like a Thrush, but it was rather smaller 

 in size. I had no gun with me, or I could very easily have 

 shot it. The bird got very shy at last, I having followed 

 it up very closely. It finally disappeared in a plantation. 

 The bird was a Rock Thrush. I was able to identify the 

 species in a moment after seeing the coloured figure in Morris — 

 ' British Birds.' " 



The specimen figured by Morris is an adult male, a bird 

 which is, perhaps, the most unmistakable from its being 

 the most showy of European species, and thus it appears 

 there can be no reasonable doubt as to Mr. Bedlington's 

 identification of it. 



WHEATEAR. 

 Saxicola oenanthe (Z). 



Regular and early spring migrant ; fairly common where it occurs, 

 A great influx from the north takes places in autumn. 



The earliest published reference to this, as a Yorkshire 

 species, is by Ed. Blyth, who stated (Rennie's Field Nat., 

 Nov. 1837, P- 467), that when on the voyage from London, 

 northward, and about ten or twelve miles from Redcliff, 

 on the coast of Yorkshire, on 17th September, several Wheat- 

 ears (with other small birds) alighted on the vessel, and they 

 all left on the first night after their appearance. 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote as follows : — 



Saxicola ajianlhe. — Wheatear — One of our earlier summer visitants ; 

 common about Halifax ; and is met with in exposed situations in most 

 parts of the county, but is becoming scarcer than it was formerly. 



The Wheatear is one of the earliest spring migrants, the 

 first comers generally arriving in March or early April ; in 



