WHEATEAR. 349 



parts of our island by the middle of April, and for this pur- 

 pose an underground lodging is almost invariably sought, 

 whether it be a deep recess beneath some huge rock, a 

 rabbit-burrow, the hole of a Sand-Martin in the bank of a 

 pit, a crevice in some dry stone-wall, or the shelter of a clod 

 in a fallow field. Mr. Dutton mentions (Zool. p. 9099) a 

 nest built for several years in an old cannon. The bird 

 never seems to excavate a place for itself, but merely fur- 

 nishes any convenient retreat it may find with the materials 

 it wants for its fabric bents, fibrous roots, dried fern and 

 moss forming the foundation, and feathers, rabbit's fur and 

 wool, the lining. The whole is large and somewhat loosely 

 put together, so as to be kept in shape rather by its confined 

 position than by constructive skill. When the nest is in a 

 rabbit-burrow it is not ^infrequently visible from the exterior, 

 but when under a stone it is often placed a long way from 

 the entrance and out of sight. It can nearly always be found 

 with certainty by watching the hen -bird, and Salmon says 

 that on the large warrens of Suffolk and Norfolk its position 

 is easily detected by the considerable number of small pieces 

 of the withered stalks of the brake (Pteris aqidlina) amassed 

 at the entrance of the burrow. When the place of conceal- 

 ment, however, is beneath a rock or earth-fast stone, the 

 nest is often inaccessible to the finder. The eggs, from five to 

 eight in number, are of a very pale blue, sometimes with a 

 green tinge, and occasionally marked with rusty dots ; they 

 measure from -89 to *77 by from -68 to -54 in. The same 

 pair of birds nearly always produces two and sometimes 

 even three broods in the season. 



The male sings prettity, but not loud, often when hovering 

 on the wing, either near his nest or his partner. Sweet says 

 that in confinement the Wheatear is continually in song, by 

 night as well as by day, and that its winter song is the best 

 and the most varied. 



The well-known South Downs of Sussex are visited by 

 the Wheatear from the end of July to the middle of Septem- 

 ber in vast numbers, consisting almost exclusively of the 

 young birds which, having been bred in other parts of the 



