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haply covers the bones of one who perished by the storm, or his 

 own hand ; or from the mound beneath which there lie the slain 

 of a battle field, magnified through the mist of years, or from the 

 rude wall that fences in many generations ; — it is no very unnatural 

 stretch of the pondering fancy which dwells in such places, to 

 associate the Wheatear with all the superstition that, unphilo- 

 sophically, but not irreverently, belong to the place of graves. It 

 comes onward, too, to meet the traveller, and now running, now 

 flying, seems to pilot him to a place beside 'the cairn,' as if his 

 own bones were soon to be gathered there ; and in that, its note 

 of solemn warning, it is more than usually energetic ; so you are at 

 perfect liberty to believe that it is breaking the stones that are to 

 cover you — if you choose ; and, really, there is no accounting for 

 what people will believe in such places— or in any place. The 

 Wheatear in the northern parts of Britain, and in places further to 

 the north, is the victim of such superstition, old and young continue 

 to kill and persecute the birds and to destroy their nests and eggs, 

 considering the service as one of more than ordinary merit." 



In the first or second week of August, if you take a walk along 

 any of our rivers, you are sure to see the Wheatear, although he 

 has partially changed his dress, the upper parts in autumn being 

 reddish brown, and the tail feathers tipped with white. I see 

 them in parties of two or three, never more, all along the low-lying 

 lands, or "bottoms," as they are termed here, all making southward 

 previous to their migration. Whether they follow the east or west 

 coast I am unable to say. A little later on great numbers assemble 

 upon the downs of our southern coast ; and as they are then in 

 first rate condition, and greatly esteemed as a delicacy for the 

 table, they are captured in immense quantities by the shepherds 

 who attend to the numerous flocks in those districts. Some idea 

 of the havoc made among these birds during the months of August 

 and September, may be obtained from the fact that, as many as 

 eighty-four dozen have been taken by one shepherd in a day ; and, 

 according to Pennant, the number annually caught in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Eastbourne, in Sussex, amounted to about 1840 dozen. 

 The mode in which they are taken is singular from its simplicity ; 



