Birds by Land and Sea 



the loose stones in the nest ? No bird could have 

 brought them. So the history closes, like so many 

 of its kind, with frayed ends, and without even a 

 plausible conjecture to knit them up. 



Where the turfy ground, with its rocky outcrop, 

 numberless rabbit-burrows, and heaps of quarry 

 dtbris, adjoins the shore rocks, is the particular 

 haunt of the wheatear. They do not allow them- 

 selves to be overlooked ; for the wheatear is not a 

 bird to meet invasion by evasion. He demonstrates 

 at first sight, but takes care to choose his ground at 

 a safe distance from his nesting-hole. " Chat ! chat / 

 ee !" he cries, from his perch on stone or clod, or 

 any other object affording the prominence he courts, 

 the chat being like the sound produced by striking 

 together two small pebbles, and the final " ee " an 

 acute sob-like sound, resembling a catch in the 

 breathing. If you are inclined for a stroll, the 

 wheatear is at your disposal to lead you on your way 

 in all directions but one. But if you desire to make 

 a nearer acquaintanceship, try the effect of searching 

 here and there. When you are "cold," the bird 

 becomes less insistent ; when you are " warm," he 

 closes in and disputes the right of way. I soon 

 discovered that the bird in the picture had a very 

 strong objection to my being near a particular heap 

 of stones, and when I began to cast aside a few of 

 them at the base of the pile, it flew to the top of it 

 and, with bobbing head and flirted tail, rattle^ out 

 its "chat" at a great rate. There was little doubt 



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