THE WHEATEAR 399 



the habitat of one pair will generally be a considerable distance from 

 that of another. 



Wheatears are no longer caught in vast quantities on the Downs 

 as they were in Gilbert White's time, when, as he quaintly says, they 

 " appeared at the tables of all the gentry that entertained with any 

 degree of elegance." The Bird Protection Acts have to some extent 



O ~ 



interfered with their capture, and in these strenuous days farmers 

 have other work for their shepherds than the setting of horse-hair 

 nooses to entrap wheatears. Also it is an undoubted fact, they are 

 less numerous now than a hundred years ago. Their food consists 

 of flies, which they often hawk for in mid-air, worms, and small 

 mollusca. There is a tiny univalve that swarms amongst the blades 

 of the short, juicy Southdown grass ; and locally these form a 

 considerable article of the adult wheatear's diet. Sheep also must 

 devour quantities of these mollusca as they crop the herbage, and 

 indeed are said by some to owe the delicacy of their flavour to this 

 mixture of " snails " and grass ! 



As they move rapidly over the ground, these birds seem to run, 

 but in reality they hop. When hawking for flies they spring into 

 the air, generally from some slight eminence, but also from the 

 ground twist and turn with surprising agility, drop on to a stone, 

 peer about for prey after the manner of robins, and, again rising 

 into the air, they hover for an instant, then descend aslant towards 

 their victims. 



When flying they seldom rise high above the ground, a habit in 

 a measure protective ; for when flitting over a bare stony down, the 

 colours of the wheatear's plumage are hardly distinguishable from 

 the flints ; but if seen on the sky-line, the black and white, 

 especially of the male bird, is at once conspicuous. Always active 

 and restless, these birds, more than any others, seem to have solved 

 the problem of perpetual motion. Wheatears, perhaps more than 

 most birds, are by nature of their habitat exposed to birds of prey. 

 When pursued, both young and old take refuge in holes, especially 



