44 WILD LIFE: FURRED AND FEATHERED. 



the cloud shadows that alarm him they cut a turf and form 

 a little lean-to shelter, and set a horsehair noose, into 

 which the bird runs." Great quantities of the wheatear 

 are captured in this manner and sold for the table. 



The lively stonechat stays with us throughout the year. 

 A scolding little fellow he is, and he shows his dislike of 

 the intruding stranger by uttering his note, h-weet, jur, jur ! 

 as he darts from one furze bush to another. A black head, 

 white neck, and reddish breast and quick motions, make 

 him a bright conspicuous object. "Little Jacky Blacky- 

 topper" I have heard him called. A labourer on the 

 roads just above Brighton was followed in his work along 

 the ditches for many days during a hard frosty spell, by a 

 pair of these birds. They picked up small trifles as he 

 worked, and crumbs when he fed. And at last they 

 became so tame that when the weather grew more than 

 usually severe, the female bird would allow the man to put 

 her in his pocket for a while, now and again, evidently- 

 enjoying the warmth. When it grew milder again the 

 birds disappeared. The stonechat does not begin to build 

 his nest till early in April. 



If you hang a bone or two upon a garden tree, especially 

 if your home chance to be not far from the woods, you 

 may observe some of the tit species well. Close to the 

 window of a cottage in Surrey, where I stayed last March, I 

 used to delight in feeding these beautiful little birds. The 

 great titmouse is a very handsome fellow, and one who 

 makes himself easily at home; he will even frequent our 

 gardens in the centre of London. Mr. Howard Saunders 

 tells of an inverted flowerpot in the British Museum having 

 contained three new nests. I know of an invalid lady who 

 had a pole hung out from her bedroom window, at the end 



