well known, at least, that this is the signal of depar- 

 ture with the swallows and the fieldfares, which con- 

 gregate with a gentle twittering before they take 

 their respective departure. 



You may depend on it that the bunting [Emberiza 

 miliaria) does not leave this country in the winter. 

 In January, 1767, I saw several dozen of them, in the 

 midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on the 

 downs near Andover: in our woodland inclosed dis- 

 trict it is a rare bird. 



Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all 

 the winter. Quails crowd to our southern coast, and 

 are often killed in numbers by people that go on 

 purpose. 



Mr. Stillingfieet, in his Tracts, says that ** if the 

 wheatear (cenanthc) does not quit England, it certainly 

 shifts places ; for about harvest they are not to be 

 found, where there was before great plenty of them." 

 This well accounts for the vast quantities that are 

 caught about that time on the south downs near 

 Lewes, where they are esteemed a delicacy. There 

 have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, 

 that have made many pounds in a season by catching 

 them in traps. And though such multitudes are 

 taken, I never saw (and I am well acquainted with 

 those parts) above two or three at a time : for they 

 are never gregarious. They mav perhaps migrate 

 in general ; and, for that purpose, draw towards the 

 coast of Sussex in autumn : but that they do not all 



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