250 



Birds. 



and is common in every lane, on every hedge, throughout 

 the country, flitting before the traveller, and about the 

 bushes. Happily for him, we have not yet acquired the 

 taste of the natives of Italy, where the Yellowhammer 

 falls a daily victim to the delicacy of the table, and 

 where its flesh is esteemed very delicious eating. There 

 he is often fattened, for the purpose of gratifying the 

 palate of epicures. 



The Ortolan, (Emheriza Tiortulana^) which is another 

 species of the same genus, is common in the central and 

 southern provinces of Europe, where it is thought exqui- 

 sitely flavoured as an article of food. When first taken 

 it is frequently very lean, but if supplied with abundance 

 of food, it is said to be so greedy, that it will eat till it 

 dies of repletion. 



THE WHEATEAE, AND WHIN CHAT. 

 (Saxicola cenanthe and S. rubetra.) 



THE WHEATEAR is one of our earliest visitants, and may 

 be found in every part of Britain. In the North, it gene- 

 rally frequents heaps of stones, ruins, or the dry stone 



