38 BIBD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



bad shot, though their " bag " could not have been a heavy 

 one, as none of their victims were larger than a titlark; 

 several were the tiny fan tail- warbler (cisticola), so plentiful 

 throughout Egypt, particularly on scrubby ground anywhere 

 near water. 



The wheatear is almost the only other edible small bird 

 we recognize in these islands. Gilbert "White, it will be 

 remembered, remarks, they " appear at the tables of all the 

 gentry around Brighton and Tunbridge who entertain with 

 any degree of elegance ; " and elsewhere we read, " It's 

 favourite haunts in this country are the South Downs, and 

 in the neighbourhood of Brighton, Lewes, and Eastbourne 

 great numbers are taken in traps, which are set on the downs 

 cut out in the turf. The habits of the birds in running to 

 shelter on the least alarm are considered in the nature of the 

 snares set for them, which are made after this fashion : Pieces 

 of the turf are taken up in solid masses, and propped up over 

 the holes from which they are cut; thus a sort of hollow 

 chamber is formed, holes are left at the opposite end of the 

 space formed beneath the turfy cover, and in the hollow 

 itself nooses are set vertically, supported on small sticks ; 

 the birds rushing in for shelter are caught by their necks in 

 the nooses, and fall an easy prey to the setter of the trap. 

 Quantities of wheatears are thus taken and sent to the 

 different markets, where they realize from 9d. to Is. 6d. each. 

 Their price has very considerably increased of late years ; 

 from 6d. to Is. a dozen used to be given formerly in a 

 plentiful season. Then the shepherds on the downs were 

 the chief trap makers, capturing sometimes from fifty to 

 sixty dozen in a day, and a custom then prevailed of people 

 visiting the traps, taking out the birds (if there were any 

 caught), and leaving a penny in the trap as a reward for the 

 shepherd a somewhat primitive method of proceeding 

 which would not hold good at the present time." 



The late Frank Buckland declares the best trap for wheat- 

 ears is the common nightingale trap baited with a meal worm. 



