254 SYLVIAD.E. 



The Wheatear, or Fallowchat, as it is sometimes 

 called, is another summer visiter allied to the Stonechat and 

 Whincliat, which generally makes its appearance from the 

 southward about the middle of March, and is one of the 

 earliest among those birds which seek to pass the season of 

 reproduction far to the north of their winter- quarters. 



In reference to their appearance in spring, Mr. Couch, 

 who resides on the coast of Cornwall, remarks that " the 

 Wheatear reaches our shores so early in the morning as 

 to prove that it must have taken flight from the French 

 coast long before daybreak. Few come after nine o'clock in 

 the morning, and none after twelve. They sometimes perch 

 on our fishing-boats, at two or three leagues from land, in an 

 almost exhausted state. They do not cross the Channel 

 every day ; and as it usually happens that our own residents 

 are not the first to arrive, it is common for them to abound 

 in a morning ; but in the afternoon, and for a day or two 

 after, for not one to be seen. My own observations do not 

 confirm the remark, that one sex materially precedes the 

 other : they rather appear to arrive indiscriminately. Through 

 the summer, the Wheatear is a common bird along our 

 coasts, on the slopes fronting the sea, somewhat above the 

 bare uncovered rocks. On the least alarm, they flit over the 

 precipice, and take refuge in some place of shelter." 



These birds, arriving in numbers probably along the 

 whole line of our southern coast, soon disperse themselves 

 over the downs, warrens, and fallow lands, some of them 

 seeking for a time very high northern latitudes, to be here- 

 after enumerated. 



The Wheatear feeds principally on worms, and various 

 insects, some of which are taken on the wing, the bird re- 

 turning to its former elevated position on a lump of earth, 

 or the top of a stone, from whence it keeps a sharp look-out, 

 both as a measure of precaution as well as for food ; but is 



