PLATE I 

 WHEATEAR. Saxicola atnantlie 



May 3i5/, 1893. After examining many sites of Wheatcars' nests, I decided 

 to reproduce this one, as it gives a very good idea of the usual place selected 

 as a nesting site. 



The nest was placed in a disused rabbit-burrow, and was fully three feet 

 from the mouth of the hole. It contained five fully fledged young birds. We 

 spent a long time observing the old birds from some distance with our glasses, 

 and watched a good many holes before we located the nest. The old birds 

 were most careful in approaching the nest ; but at last I saw the male go into the 

 hole with a large moth in his bill, and on going up I discovered the nest. All 

 the time I was engaged in photographing the mouth of the hole, the old birds 

 flew in circles above our heads uttering a plaintive note, as well as their ' click- 

 clack^ which is rather like the sound made by striking two stones together. 



We came across several Wheatears' nests during the course of the day, 

 in various different holes and crannies under boulders, and I photographed 

 two or three of them, but none of them were as good as the one in the Plate. 

 The nest in this case was made of dry grass and wool, with a beautiful lining 

 of pine root-fibres. Shortly after we left the nest we saw two of the young 

 birds sitting on the stones at the mouth of the hole, where the old birds 

 brought insects and other food to them. 



In Tweedsmuir, where the Wheatear is exceptionally plentiful, I found a 

 great many nests under the sods beside the open sheep -drains, especially 

 where two sods leaned against each other and formed a sort of small tunnel; 

 one entrance to the nest was usually choked up with grass and moss, the 

 other being artificially widened or scraped out by the birds. As a rule they 

 do not make a hole for themselves, but select a suitable natural one. 



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