ACROSS THE OPEN FIELDS AND DOWNS. 69 



talented Laureate is a keen observer of Nature 

 too, and rarely sacrifices facts upon the shrine 

 of genius. His allusion to the Wheatear is 

 particularly a happy one, for the little bird with 

 the blue-gray back is one of the earliest of our 

 migrants, and may be seen upon the southern 

 Downs on Lady Day a visitor of almost as much 

 regularity as the rent-collector himself. The 

 white rump of the Wheatear makes him a very 

 conspicuous object as he flies before us across the 

 breezy wastes. He is very fond of sitting on a 

 boulder or a rough wall, and is remarkably con- 

 fiding, especially for the first few days after his 

 arrival. At the two periods of migration, notably 

 the autumn one, the Wheatear is gregarious. 

 Flocks of these birds arrive in March, but soon 

 separate into pairs and return to their accustomed 

 haunts ; and then again in autumn the broods 

 and their parents congregate from all the country- 

 side, and the gatherings become larger and larger 

 as the flight is slowly taken, until once more the 

 southern Downs swarm with Wheatears restlessly 

 preparing for their journey across the sea. In 

 spring and autumn, especially, the Wheatear may 

 be observed on the fallow fields, following in the 

 wake of the plough, searching the newly turned 

 earth for the worms and insects on which it feeds. 

 For the most part the Wheatear is a terrestrial 

 species, although it can and does perch freely on 

 trees, where such are to be met with in its haunts. 

 A few weeks after its arrival the Wheatear begins 

 breeding. The nest is one of the most difficult to 

 find, being cleverly hidden under a heap of stones, 

 in an old wall, or beneath the shelter of a rock. 

 It is made of dry grass, sometimes with a little 



