160 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



now and then a nest is ploughed up in a fallow on the 

 downs under a furrow, but it is thought a rarity. At the 

 time of wheat-harvest they begin to be taken in great 

 numbers ; are sent for sale in vast quantities to Brighthelm- 

 stone and Tunbridge ; and appear at the tables of all the 

 gentry that entertain with any degree of elegance. About 

 Michaelmas they retire, and are seen no more till March. 

 Though these birds are, when in season, in great plenty on 

 the south downs round Lewes, yet at Eastbourne, which is 

 the eastern extremity of those downs, they abound much 

 more. One thing is very remarkable, that though in the 

 height of the season so many hundreds of dozens are taken, 

 yet they never are seen to flock ; and it is a rare thing to 

 see more than three or four at a time ; so that there must 

 be a perpetual flitting and constant progressive succession. 

 It does not appear that any wheat-ears are taken to the 

 westward of Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river 

 Arun. 



I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration 

 of ring-ousels, and to take notice whether they continued 

 on the downs to this season of the year, as I had formerly 

 remarked them in the month of October all the way from 

 Chichester to Lewes wherever there were any shrubs and 

 covert ; but not one bird of this sort came within my ob- 

 servation. I only saw a few larks and whin-chats, some 

 rooks, and several kites and buzzards. 



About Midsummer a flight of cross-bills comes to the 

 pine-groves about this house, but never makes any long 

 stay. 



The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former 

 letter, still continues in this garden, and retired under- 

 ground about the 20th November, and came out again for 

 one day on the 30th : it lies now buried in a wet swampy 



