SHEPHERDS AND WHEATEARS 



The passion for wheatears, so far as I know, was 

 confined to a part of the south coast, and dates some 

 centuries back in time. At all events, it existed and 

 was strong in the time of the Stuarts, and at a later 

 period the demand for the birds increased with the 

 growth of the coast towns of Eastbourne and Brighton. 



The pretty little grey and white, black-winged bird 

 that loves the stony desert places of the earth is a 

 strict emigrant, returning to and quitting these shores 

 earlier than most species; and in July, after rearing 

 their young, the southward movement begins, and 

 from all parts of England and Wales, and from Scot- 

 land and the islands, the birds come in pairs and in 

 small parties of half-a-dozen or more to the downs. 

 They are most abundant on the higher part of the 

 range called the South Downs, where they spend a 

 few days on the hills, running and flitting over the 

 close-cropped turf, and playfully pursuing one another 

 in the air. It is a season of rest and recreation on 

 the " threshold of England " before their voyage over 

 sea and subsequent long journey into the interior of 

 a distant continent; and when, having rested, they 

 depart, they are succeeded by others, so that they are 

 never, or but rarely, abundant at any one time, but 

 are always arriving and always departing. They are 

 very fat when they arrive on the downs, and the 

 season during which the shepherds took them, from 

 mid-July to mid-September, must have been a blessed 

 time for the gourmets of the past. Whenever the 



i 



