SHEPHERDS AND WHEATEARS 131 



the sods were carefully put back, roots down, in their 

 places, and the smooth green surface was restored to 

 the hills. 



The wheatear when travelling flies low, and has 

 the habit of alighting on any barren or stony piece 

 of ground. If a heap of flints bo collected, or a few 

 sods be turned earth upwards, not a bird will come 

 in sight of the place but will go out of his way to 

 settle on it, and the larger the patch of ground thrown 

 into coops the more birds come to it. Again, the 

 bird has the habit of going into any hole or crevice 

 it finds in the stony or barren spots it Jo'^es to visit. 

 I have noticed the same habit in birds of other 

 species that breed in dark holes. The fact that on 

 bright and cloudless days few wheatears were caught 

 in the coops and that considerable numbers were 

 always taken on days of flying clouds and of shadow 

 and sunlight, seems to show that the birds make 

 use of the holes as a shelter. They probably greatly 

 dislike being wetted by rain ; and indeed the bird's 

 safety must in a great degree depend on his ability 

 to keep himself dry, since a wet plumage interferes 

 with flight, and the wheatear, on account of his con- 

 spicuous plumage, as well as of the open exposed 

 character of the ground he inhabits, must be more 

 liable than almost any other species to be attacked 

 by hawks that prey upon small birds. The sudden 

 gloom caused by a cloud obscuring the sun is the 

 forerunner of a swift-coming storm to the bird, a 



