1 6 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



vicinity of the " tors," the Wheatear will most 

 likely be seen. The Wheatear can scarcely be 

 classed as a common bird in the West Country, 

 and Dartmoor is most certainly its headquarters 

 during the breeding season. With the Chiffchaff 

 it must be ranked as one of our very earliest 

 spring migrants, appearing upon the coasts of 

 South Devon during the closing days of March. 

 These migrants follow certain routes from the 

 coast to the uplands with amazing regularity. 

 Both in spring and autumn we have remarked a 

 few Wheatears in certain spots along the coast, as 

 well as in special haunts inland, where almost to 

 the day for seven years in succession they could 

 be looked for with certainty. Few of these 

 Wheatears linger in the coast districts to breed, 

 passing northwards to the moors for that purpose. 

 We have nowhere met with this bird in such 

 numbers on Dartmoor as in the vicinity of 

 the far-famed Hay tor rocks. A couple of 

 summers ago we spent some time upon the 

 summit of this peak (it is about twelve hundred 

 feet above sea-level) watching the engaging 

 ways of a brood of Wheatears and their parents. 

 The nest was made in a totally inaccessible 



