THE WHEATEAR 



SAXICOLA (ENANTHE 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed summer visitor, becoming most abundant in 

 the wilder and more northern areas. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : It is chiefly as a passing migrant in spring and 

 autumn that the Wheatear visits the Metropolitan area, 

 and at those seasons it is occasionally seen in such spots as 

 Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, Clapham and 

 Tooting Commons, the various sewage farms, Hampstead 

 Heath, and so forth. Further afield it is not quite so 

 scarce or irregular a visitor to Wimbledon, where it is 

 reported to breed, and I have several records of it in 

 ploughed fields, especially in spring, in the Acton, Peri- 

 vale, and Willesden districts. I have known pairs and 

 odd birds to remain in a locality for several days, but these 

 individuals are obviously on migration, and soon pass on. 

 Possibly the Wheatear was once common in such spots as 

 Wimbledon and Hampstead, but the wanton trapping 

 that went on in past years has sadly reduced its numbers, 

 to say nothing of the transformation which so many suit- 

 able haunts have undergone with the growth of Greater 

 London. It still breeds sparingly and locally within the 

 fifteen-mile limit, possibly more frequently on the high- 

 lands of Surrey and in Middlesex than elsewheie ; it 

 breeds in Richmond Park. 



From the end of March to the beginning of May 

 the Wheatear may be met with on migration over the 

 London area, and again in August and September, when 

 the return passage is in progress. The few that breed in 

 this area take up their abode in the open spots, brickfields, 

 sand-pits, and bare spaces, where they may be easily 



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