170 OUR xatht: songsters. 



on lier nest, tlie air resounds with tlie cry of 

 " titreu, titreu." (Jften the spots where the wheat- 

 ears congregate are so barren, that if they needed 

 tlie shelter of a bush, they could not even find 

 a bramble of any size or a furze shrub to cover 

 them ; but they conceal their nest, and that most 

 skilfully too, in fissures in the gi'ound, or among 

 clods or heaps of stones, and if some old wall is 

 near they will hide it at its base, placing it so 

 securely that even those accustomed to the habits 

 of the bird arc often unable to discover it. 

 Sometimes the nest is hidden in a chalk or gravel 

 pit, and on some downs the birds avail themselves 

 of a deserted rabbit warren, where just at the 

 entrance they build their home. This structure 

 is large and composed of grasses, wool, moss, and 

 of feathers and scraps of rabbit's do'svn which 

 are spn'ad about the common, and it usually 

 contains six pale-blife eggs. Small pieces of 

 brake generally lie strewed in little heaps around, 

 and thus betray the home to the wanderer. The 

 wheatear is very cunning in luring away any who 

 may approach its young family, and if a passer 

 over the common comes towards the nest, the bird 

 makes a short flight to mislead him, and when she 



