THE WHEATEAR 
SAXICOLA G@NANTHE 
LocaL names in surrounding counties : 
Srarus 1n British AviraunA: A common and widely 
distributed summer visitor, becoming most abundant in 
the wilder and more northern areas. 
Raprat DistrrBuTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: It is chiefly as a passing migrant in spring and 
autumn that the Wheatear visits the Metropolitan area, 
and at those seasons it is occasionally seen in such spots as 
Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill, Clapham and 
Tooting Commons, the various sewage farms, Hampstead 
Heath, and so forth. Further afield it is not quite so 
scarce or irregular a visitor to Wimbledon, where it is 
reported to breed, and I have several records of it in 
ploughed fields, especially in spring, in the Acton, Peri- 
vale, and Willesden districts. I have known pairs and 
odd birds to remain in a locality for several days, but these 
individuals are obviously on migration, and soon pass on. 
Possibly the Wheatear was once common in such spots as 
Wimbledon and Hampstead, but the wanton trapping 
that went on in past years has sadly reduced its numbers, 
to say nothing of the transformation which so many suit- 
able haunts have undergone with the growth of Greater 
London. It still breeds sparingly and locally within the 
fifteen-mile limit, possibly more frequently on the high- 
lands of Surrey and in Middlesex than elsewhere ; it 
breeds in Richmond Park. 
From the end of March to the beginning of May 
the Wheatear may be met with on migration over the 
London area, and again in August and September, when 
the return passage is in progress. ‘The few that breed in 
this area take up their abode in the open spots, brickfields, 
sand-pits, and bare spaces, where they may be easily 
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