THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



recognised. The Wheatear is by no means a shy bird, 

 if a somewhat wary one, and it usually first arrests the 

 attention as it sits quietly on some coign of vantage 

 watching your movements or glides along close to the 

 ground to a safer resting-place. As likely as not it utters a 

 series of clicking notes, which sound like pebbles knocked 

 together, accompanying them with a flicking motion 

 of the tail and wings. In the earlier part of the nesting 

 season the male utters a short and rambling song, often 

 when fluttering in the air. The food of this species 

 consists of worms, small snails, insects and larvae, and 

 various small fruits. It is a somewhat early breeder, 

 commencing to build in April, and the eggs are laid during 

 that month and May. A covered situation seems always 

 to be selected, such as under a heap of stones or bricks, a 

 hole in a wall, or a rabbit-burrow. The nest is loosely 

 made of dry grass and roots, lined with hair, wool, and 

 feathers, and the egg usually five or six are pale blue. 

 It is a difficult nest to find, and the old birds are wary in 

 the extreme. The Wheatear seldom perches in trees, 

 but often sits on telegraph wires and posts. In autumn 

 Wheatears gather into parties, which eventually become 

 flocks and migrate in company. 



The Wheatear cannot readily be confused with any 

 other British species. The male has most of the upper 

 parts bluish grey, merging into white on the lower back ; 

 the under parts are pale buff ; the eye-stripe and ear- 

 coverts are black ; above the eye is a white streak ; the 

 wings are black; the tail black and white. The female 

 has the body plumage nearly uniform sandy brown, the 

 wings and tail nearly as in the male. Bill, tarsi, and 

 toes black; irides dark brown. Length 6i inches. The 

 young in nestling plumage resemble the female in general 

 colour, but are spotted above and below. 



