208 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



In colour this bird resembles a large moth, 

 being most beautifully and delicately streaked 

 and mottled with various shades of black, brown, 

 grey, and buff, but in appearance it is not un- 

 like a hawk, having long pointed wings more 

 than seven inches in length, and a tail about 

 five inches long. The male differs from the 

 female in having a large heart-shaped spot upon 

 the inner web of the first three quill feathers, 

 and broad white tips to the two outer tail 

 feathers on each side. 



The mottled brown appearance of the bird 

 when reposing either on the ground or on the 

 limb of a large tree, is admirably adapted to 

 screen it from observation even within a few 

 yards of the observer. It delights in furzy 

 commons, wild heathery tracts, and broken hilly 

 ground covered with ferns, particularly in the 

 neighbourhood of woods and thickets, and is 

 especially partial to sandy soils. I have fre- 

 quently seen this bird upon the bare sand, 

 either in a sandpit or under the lee of a furze- 

 bush, where it appeared to be basking in the 



