THE WHEATEAR 405 



literally turning them inside out, before administering them to their 

 young the only bird besides the cuckoo I have ever seen take these 

 caterpillars. This habit of casting pellets is common to many species 

 of birds, including shrikes and kingfishers, as well as birds of prey. 



In the north of England and Scotland the wheatear bears a bad 

 reputation, and is considered a bird of ill omen. Should it be seen 

 sitting upon a stone, the death of the spectator will ensue ; but good 

 luck may be expected if it is perched on a tuft of grass. Poor, 

 innocent beautiful bird ! Could anything be less suggestive of death 

 and disaster than this aggressively cheerful Mark Tapley of the bird 

 world! The tradition is explained rather ingeniously in Swainson's 

 Folk L&re. The wheatear's haunts and habits have earned for 

 it a bad name. Naturally a bird of waste places, it frequents old 

 and disused churchyards, cairns and mounds, beneath which lie the 

 bones of men who perished ages ago, hence the ignorant and 

 superstitious connect it with death. 1 



The wheatear is an accomplished mimic, and can weave into 

 his song not only the call-notes of other birds, but short phrases 

 from their repertoire, so that even the most practised ear may be 

 deceived, and mistake this plagiarist for anything but what he really 

 is. 2 Saxby says he has heard the wheatear successfully imitate 

 the " house - sparrow, skylark, common bunting, mountain linnet, 

 peewit, golden plover, ringed-plover, redshank, oyster-catcher and 

 herring-gull." He goes on to say " So complete is the deception, that 

 when the bird has been out of sight I have many times been 

 thoroughly taken in." 



To my mind there is always much in the song proper of the 

 wheatear which suggests that of the skylark in its beginnings. 



Comparing the songs of the Chats and wheatear, the simplest 

 is that of the stonechat ; it becomes more complex in the whinchat, 

 but only attains its full expression in the wheatear, whose voice is 

 flexible and capable of such varied modulation. Maybe it gains 



1 Swainson, 1885, p. 10. 2 Birds of Shetland, p. 68. 



