WHEATEAR. 287 



THE WHEATEAR, or Fallowchat, as it is sometimes 

 called, is another summer visitor allied to the Stonechat 

 and Whinchat, which generally makes its appearance from 

 the southward about the middle of March, and is one 

 of the earliest among those birds which seek to pass the 

 season of reproduction far to the north of their winter- 

 quarters. 



In reference to their appearance in spring, Mr. Couch, 

 who resides on the coast of Cornwall, remarks that " the 

 Wheatear reaches our coast so early in the morning as 

 to prove that it must have taken flight from the French 

 coast long before daybreak. Few come after nine o'clock 

 in the morning, and none after twelve. They sometimes 

 perch on our fishing-boats, at two or three leagues from 

 land, in an almost exhausted state. They do not cross the 

 Channel every day ; and as it usually happens that our own 

 residents are not the first to arrive, it is common for them 

 to abound in a morning ; but in the afternoon, and for a 

 day or two after, for not one to be seen. My own observa- 

 tions do not confirm the remark, that one sex materially 

 precedes the other : they rather appear to arrive indiscrimi- 

 nately. Through the summer, the Wheatear is a common 

 bird along our coasts, on the slopes fronting the sea, some- 

 what above the bare uncovered rocks. On the least alarm, 

 they flit over the precipice, and take refuge in some place 

 of shelter." 



These birds, arriving in numbers probably along the 

 whole line of our southern coast, soon disperse themselves 

 over the downs, warrens, and fallow lands, some of them 

 seeking for a time very high northern latitudes, to be here- 

 after enumerated. 



" No May without a Wheatear." 



Old Saying. 



The Wheatear feeds principally on worms, and various 



