WHEATEAR. 159 



seen in winter ; for, entre nous> the disappearing of the latter is 

 more marvellous than that of the former, and much more unac- 

 countable. The hirundines, if they please, are certainly capable 

 of migration; and yet no doubt are often found in a torpid 

 state: but redstarts, nightingales, whitethroats, blackcaps, &c. 

 &c., are very ill provided for long flights ; have never been once 

 found, as I ever heard of, in a torpid state, and yet can never 

 be supposed, in such troops, from year to year to dodge and 

 elude the eyes of the curious and inquisitive, which from day to 

 day discern the other small birds that are known to abide our 

 winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw nothing like 

 a summer bird of passage : and, what 

 is more strange, not one wheatear, 

 though they abound so in the autumn 

 as to be a considerable perquisite to 

 the shepherds that take them; arid 

 though many are to be seen to my 

 knowledge all the winter through in 

 many parts of the south of England. 

 The most intelligent shepherds tell me that some few of these 

 birds appear on the downs in March, and then withdraw to breed 

 probably in warrens and stone-quarries : now and then a nest is 

 ploughed up in a fallow on the downs under a furrow, but it is 

 thought a rarity. At the time of wheat-harvest they begin to be 

 taken in great numbers ; are sent for sale in vast quantities to 

 Brighthelmstone and Tunbridge ; and appear at the tables of all 

 the gentry that entertain with any degree of elegance. About 

 Michaelmas they retire and are seen no more till March. Though 

 these birds are, when in season, in great plenty on the south 

 downs round Lewes, yet at East-Bourn, which is the eastern ex- 

 tremity of those downs, they abound much more. One thing is 

 very remarkable that though in the height of the season so many 

 hundreds of dozens are taken, yet they never are seen to flock ; 

 and it is a rare thing to see more than three or four at a time : so 

 that there must be a perpetual flitting and constant progressive 

 succession. It does not appear that any wheatears are taken to 

 the westward of Houghton-bridge, which stands on the river 

 Arun. 



I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of 

 ring-ousels ; and to take notice whether they continued on the 

 downs to this season of the year ; as I had formerly remarked 



