PERCHING BIRDS. Ma 
Though always to be met with in the two first named 
tracts, it is never seen except in pairs, and these but 
thinly distributed, though most frequent on the warren 
at Oxton. This, traversed by the road leading from 
Ollerton to Nottingham, is a lonely, quiet spot, and I 
have watched there with much interest these pretty but 
wary birds. From being accustomed to see persons 
passing along the road, they are not quite so shy as 
usual, and will allow any one to approach within a few 
yards before taking flight. Perched on a grass-covered 
molehill or a large stone or clod, they seem always on 
the watch, turning the head quickly from side to side, 
while the body is carried very erect. They hop rapidly, 
but their flight is low, and’ is maintained for very short 
distances. Their movements while catching flies and 
other insects are very lively; but they are continually 
occupying for a few moments some little prominence, 
and again flitting about after their food. I have once 
or twice seen them perch on the top of the walls of turf 
that surround the warren, but I never knew them to do 
so on either bush or tree. The wheatear is compara- 
tively a silent bird, its faint warble being seldom heard, 
and its call-note, which it utters while hopping or rather 
running about, consisting of a single “ chat.” 
The Grasshopper Warbler (S. locustella) is more 
plentiful than it appears to be. It is so fond of conceal- 
ment, and so shy and watchful in its habits, that even in 
the piaces which you know it frequents it is difficult to 
catch a glimpse of it; and- whenever this is accom- 
plished, it seems, from the way in which it creeps or 
rather glides through a bush or hedge, as Mr. Yarrell 
justly remarks, “more like a mouse than a bird.” I 
have seen it so repeatedly in the furze and underwood 
