102 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



cured tlie wliole family, and the nestling is now in tlie 

 mnseum collection (British series, No. 58.c). Messrs. 

 Gnrney and Fisher have recorded an instance of this 

 species having been observed here in winter; and 

 Mr. T. E. Gunn, who is weU acquainted with most of 

 our British birds, states in the "Zoologist" p. 9455, 

 that he observed a male at Hethersett, near Norwich, 

 in January, 1864, and a pair near the banks of the 

 Heigham river, towards the end of November, in the 

 same year ; but such cases are, I believe, uncommon in 

 any part of England. 



SAXICOLA (ENANTHE (Linnaeus). 

 WHEATEAE. 



A common summer visitant and breeds in Norfolk, 

 arriving about the end of March and leaving in 

 September ; a large number also from more northern 

 locaHties appear here, on their way southward, towards 

 the end of August. This species, like the two pre- 

 ceding ones, is met with in the open parts of the 

 county, on heaths and common lands, or in the vicinity 

 of gravel pits, and abounds on the sandy hills by the sea 

 coast. Mr. Salmon, writing of the Wheatear in Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk, says (YarreU's " British Birds," vol. i.) 

 ^^it is very abundant on the warrens, and usually 

 selects a deserted rabbit-burrow, in which it places its 

 nest at some little distance from the entrance : it is 

 composed of dried roots, intermixed with feathers, 

 rabbit's down, and other light substances; it generally 

 contains six pale blue eggs. The nest is easily de- 

 tected 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 



