THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT. 297 



throat and breast very pale orange-brown, fading through 

 dull yellowish-white on the belly to the white on the vent. 

 In the female the white is less and dull, and the young birds 

 have the brown more or less mixed with white and grey. 



As these birds do not affect high grounds or long flights, 

 they come to Britain more to the south-east than bolder- 

 flying birds ; and hence they are not common in the south- 

 west of England. They belong to the same migration, in 

 direction, as the warblers, only their habits and kind of food 

 lead them farther inland. 



THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT (Saxicola OBnautlie). 



Is another summer migrant, but it comes at least a month 

 earlier, and in much greater numbers, than the other species ; 

 it is by far the most abundant of the tribe, ranging over 

 every latitude in the British Islands, and resorting even to 

 the inhospitable shores of more northern lands : it is also 

 distributed farther up the wilds, and lower down on the cul- 

 tivated grounds, than any of the other species. Their perch 

 is on clods, and especially on stones, beneath which they form 

 their nests, and probably expel the toads from their dwellings j 

 at least I have seen a toad in a hole under a stone, and after- 

 wards a wheat-ear's nest under the same. They do not, of 

 course, always nestle under stones ; they resort to those 

 places where there is most food for them, and nestle under 

 whatever suits their purpose best. They love a dripping sky 

 and misty atmosphere, because these are favourable to the 

 growth and also to the appearance of those earth-worms 

 which form their principal food ; and these circumstances 

 have, of course, more influence in the determining of their 

 localities, than the places under which to shelter, or the 

 materials whereof to construct their nest. Indeed, the mate- 

 rials of a bird's nest are not a character upon which to found 



