140 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xvii. 



ings. She appears quite acquainted with them all, sitting snugly 

 in her warmly feathered nest, with nothing visible but her bright 

 black eyes and sharp-pointed bill. As soon as her eggs are 

 hatched, she and her mate are in a great bustle, bringing food 

 to their very tiny offspring flying backwards and forwards all 

 day with caterpillars and grubs. 



Both this and the larger kind of whitethroat which visits us 

 have a lively and pleasing song. They frequently make their 

 nest on the ground in the orchard, amongst the long grass, 

 arching it over in the most cunning manner, and completely 

 concealing it. When they leave their eggs to feed, a leaf is laid 

 over the entrance of the nest to hide it ; in fact, nothing but 

 the eyes of children (who in nest-finding would beat Argus him- 

 self) could ever discover the abode of the little whitethroat. Before 

 they leave this country, these birds collect together, and are seen 

 searching the hedges for insects in considerable but scattered 



O O 



flocks. They frequently fly in at the open windows in pursuit of 

 flies, and chase them round the room quite fearlessly. The gar- 

 dener accuses them of destroying quantities of cherries, by 

 piercing them with their bills : they certainly do so, but 1 am 

 always inclined to suppose that it is only the diseased fruit that 

 they attack in this way, or that which has already been taken 

 possession of by small insects. 



The wheatear does not arrive till the first week of April, when 

 they appear in considerable numbers on the sand-hills, flying in 

 and out of the rabbit-holes and broken banks, in concealed cor- 

 ners of which they hatch. Their eggs are peculiarly beautiful, 

 being of a pale blue delicately shaded with a darker colour at 

 one end. Though of such repute in the south of England, it is 

 not ever sought after here. As a boy, on the Wiltshire downs, 

 I used to be an adept at catching them in horsehair nooses, as 

 we used to consider them particularly good eating. The shep- 

 herds there, as well as on the South downs, make a considerable 

 addition to their income by catching wheatears and sending them 

 to the London and Brighton markets. 



The swallows and swifts arrive also about the middle of April. 

 It is a curious tiling to observe how a pair of swallows season 

 after season build their nest in the same angle of a window, 

 or corner of a wall, coming immediately to the same spot, after 



