140 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



gives out that he is catching starlings with the farmer's 

 permission. The starling is not a scheduled bird, and, 

 though protected, may be taken by any person on his 

 own land, or by any one with the owner's consent. 

 Catching wheatears for starlings has gone on un- 

 punished until now, or rather to the end of the last 

 close time in East Sussex, September 1, 1899, and 

 ought not to be any longer tolerated. When the 

 wheatear season comes round once more efforts will, 

 I trust, be made by residents on the south coast, who 

 are anxious to preserve our wild bird life, to enforce 

 the law ; and I hope to be there to help them. 



It is often said that the wheatears have decreased, 

 and will continue to decrease, owing to the continual 

 spread of cultivation and the consequent diminution 

 of the open, barren, and stony lands which the bird 

 inhabits. All the more need then to put an end to 

 the wholesale taking of the birds when they arrive 

 on the South Downs, during migration. The wheatear 

 is a pretty, interesting bird, a sweet singer, and dear 

 to all who love the wildness and solitude of hills and 

 of desert, stony places. It is not fair that it should 

 be killed merely to enable London stockbrokers, sport- 

 ing men, and other gorgeous persons who visit the 

 coast, accompanied by ladies with yellow hair, to feed 

 every day on "ortolans" at the big Brighton hotels. 



Lark-eating, which revolts us even more than wheat- 

 ear-eating, is, alas ! too common and widespread in the 

 country to be suppressed in the same easy way. It 



