SAXICOLA RUBETRA. 285 



horse-hair noose is fixed to a stick, which the birds, in search of 

 food or shelter, in attempting to get under, are caught ; or by 

 cutting out a piece of turf about 11 inches by 8, and 6 thick, 

 which they lay over the hole, leaving sloping entrances, and 

 setting the noozes under the turf. One shepherd and his lad 

 will have from 500 to 700 of these traps, and as many as 

 84 dozen caught by them in a day. They are sent for sale, at 

 a penny each, in great quantities to JBriththelmstone and 

 Tunbridge, and as they are caught in the time of wheat 

 harvest, they take their name of wheat ear. One curious thing 

 is, although thus caught in thousands on the south downs round 

 Lewes and Eastbourne, they are never seen in flocks, only three 

 or four at a time — a characteristic proof of their perpetual 

 flitting al^out and constant succession before migration. A few 

 remain in the south of Britain all year. 



The Whin Chat. 



(Saxicola Rubetra.) Bechst. (Motacilla Rubetra.) Linn. 



" My lord a-hunting he is gane, 

 But hounds or hawks wi' him are nane ; 

 By Collins' cottage lies his game, 

 If Collins' Jenny be at hame." 



— Bums. 



Like the preceding, this is a summer migrant, but about a 

 month later in coming — seldom before the middle of April. 

 Instead of the whin chat it should be named the grass chat, as 

 it is more partial to thick grass meadows and furzy commons 

 than whinny links or downs ; is rarer on our links and adjacent 

 country than the white-mmped or the black-headed stone 

 chat. As it haunts moorland and commons overrun with low 

 shrubs, where ivhi?is are highest, and as it always alights on the 

 highest twig — hence its name of whin chat; but the three 

 species derive their name more from their cry of chit-chat, or 

 cliick-cliack, than from where they breed, for I have seen all 

 three breeding in one locality ; and, with propriety, might each 

 be named the white-rumped, the striated, and the black-headed 

 chats; as the wagtails are called the pied, the grey, and the 

 yellow, from their habit of wagging their tails. Linnaeus was 

 not far wrong in classing the tail-jerking chats with the wagtails. 



