10 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



much the lower lands, except where large tracts of 

 " moss" form a solitude which suits its retiring hahits. 

 It is particularly numerous on the island of Walney, and 

 Mr. J. E. Harting says {ZooL, 1864) that he has never 

 observed this species anywhere so large or so finely- 

 coloured as there. It is found on the hills round 

 Accrington about the stone walls and old quarries, 

 though not very numerously, being more plentiful on the 

 Eossendale uplands. Mr, K. Eamwell says that it is 

 common near Turton, and Mr. K. J. Howard reports it 

 as plentiful near Blackburn, though not so much so as 

 formerly, the enclosing of commons and waste lands 

 causing the decrease. Writing in the IMcKjazine of 

 Natural Historij in 1838, Dr. Skaife says that he has 

 found it most plentiful amongst the mountains in Bow- 

 land, and Mr. John Weld informs me that it is still 

 common on the fells near Leagram Hall, though on the 

 Wyresdale side Mr. E. Standen considers it rather rare. 

 Mr. T. Jackson says it breeds plentifully on a large moss 

 in Winmarleigh, but that at Overton it is not very 

 common : he finds the birds very fat in spring on their 

 arrival. It is curious how very early the migrating 

 species reach the shores of Morecambe Bay ; for example, 

 in 1882, the Wheatear arrived at Overton on March 23, 

 whilst at Clitheroe it did not appear till April 12, and it 

 is so with many others. On Pendle Hill it breeds pretty 

 numerously, though the nest is difficult to find, and in 

 my experience, this bird is one of the wariest of its kind. 

 Occasionally it ventures near the towns, and for many 

 years a pair had their nest in the wall bounding the 

 turnpike between Clitheroe and Chatburn, and very near 

 the former place. On the coast, old rabbit-burrows are 

 generally selected, the nests frequently being placed 

 several feet down, and Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith {ZooL, 



