CII ATS AND WARRLERS. 93 



The nest, which is commenced at the end of April or beginning 

 of May, is constructed in holes in walls, hollows in gi^avel or chalk 

 pits, or deserted rabbit burrows. It is large, with a somewhat shallow 

 cavity, and is generally formed of grass and fibrous roots, arid lined 

 with moss, hair, and feathers, but the materials vary according to the 

 locality. The eggs, from four to seven in number, are of an elongated 

 form, and of a delicate pale blue colour; they are said to be of a 

 most delicious flavour, and are strongly recommended for invalids. 



In the southern part of England Wheatears are captured in immense 

 numbers, and sold in the markets for food; their flesh is delicate and 

 agreeable. Pennant states that as many as 1840 dozen have been 

 taken in one season in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, and in the 

 Linnaean Transactions it is recorded that no less than 84 dozen were 

 caught by a shepherd in a single day. The snaring time is from St. 

 James' Day, the 25th. of July, to about the third week in September, 

 and during this period it is not unusual for a shepherd and his lad 

 to manage from six to seven hundred traps. These are simply con- 

 structed by placing two tufts on edge, with a small horse-hair noose 

 attached to a stick at each end. On the slightest alarm, even the 

 shadow of a passing cloud, or a few drops of rain, the birds run 

 beneath the turf and become entangled in the nooses. 



THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLEU, 



f Sylvia locitsfeHa.) 



PLATE VI. FIGURE IV. 



THIS elegant bird is sometimes called the Grasshopper Chirper, the 

 Cricket Bird, or the Sibilous Brakehopper; its scientific name locnstclla, 

 means a small locust, and is applied to it from the resemblance its cry 

 bears to the chirp of the grasshopper. In the "Natural History of 

 Selborne," Gilbert White says, "Nothing can be more amusing than 

 the whisper of this little bird, which seems to be close by though at 

 a hundred yards distance; and, when close at your ear, is scarce any 

 louder than when a great way off. Had I not been a little acquainted 

 with insects, and known that the grasshopper kind is not yet hatched, 



