Birds of Britain 



comparative ease, as, having secured a luscious beakful of 

 insects, spiders especially being a great delicacy, they hop 

 or dart with their peculiar sharp flight from point to point, 

 till finally they are gone, and on approaching the spot 

 where they vanished, you will suddenly see them reappear 

 from some hole or cranny. 



The young leave the nest as soon as they are able to 

 hop and flutter, and are then jealously guarded by their 

 parents, who fly round in great excitement if you approach 

 too near. They are soon well on the wing, however, and 

 the old birds are free to burden themselves with another 

 family. During the early part of May, a large variety of 

 the Wheatear may sometimes be seen, most frequently along 

 the sea-shore ; these are birds whose home is in the Far North, 

 and which regularly pass through these islands at this time. 

 They are larger and finer birds which have wintered in 

 Africa and have remained on in Southern climes, refusing 

 to be lured away when their English brethren left, but, 

 judging their time as accurately as though possessed of the 

 most reliable of calendars, they leave their tropical winter 

 home when spring in temperate regions has well advanced. 

 Not to be tempted by the attractions our country can offer 

 in its most delightful month, they pursue their journey 

 with restless energy to the apparently inhospitable shores of 

 Greenland. These wanderers, however, do not concern us 

 much ; they are gone, and our summer residents are busy 

 with their second brood, and when this is hatched, young 

 and old spend the rest of the warm weather in their home ; 

 renewing their plumage, and preparing themselves for the 

 shortening days of autumn, when they pass away to the 



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