66 NATURAL HISTORY 



You may depend on it that the bunting, 

 emheriza miliaria, does not leave this county 

 in the Winter. In Januarij 1767 I saw se- 

 veral dozen of them, in the midst of a se- 

 vere frost, among the bushes on the downs 

 near Atidover: in our woodland inclosed 

 district 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. Stilling fleet, in his Tracts, says that, 

 ** if the wheatear (csnanthc) does not quit 

 " Englandy 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 neversaw (and 

 I am well acquainted with those parts) 



