298 INSECTIVOILE. 



a dispute ; because they are minor parts of the bird's accom- 

 modation; and, in nature, minors must always yield. If 

 there is a loose heap of stones, natural or artificial, a dry 

 stone wall, a rugged stony bank, or a single stone on the 

 common, below which a hidden shelter for the nest either 

 exists naturally, or can be formed with little trouble, the 

 wheat-ear will prefer that ; and as they are not in the habi- 

 tual sight of man, it has no objection to the crumbling 

 masses that have fallen from a ruined tower or abbey, or 

 even to the shelter of a tombstone which has been partially 

 filled beneath with weeds and rubbish. It is worms that 

 entice the wheat-ear, and wherever the place of worms is, 

 more especially if deserted by man, there the wheat-ear is 

 sure to come, heedless of whatever tale of ghost or goblin 

 may keep the rustic in fear of its haunt, and occasionally 

 make the pretender to a more daring philosophy a little 

 sceptical of his own scepticism. 



As the wheat-ear always nestles where it can feed both 

 itself and its young with the least exertion of its wings, of 

 course its nesting-places are different in those districts where 

 stones are not to be found. In these, the slovenly agriculture 

 of " fallowing " makes the best substitute for stones ; and as 

 the rugged furrows of that rude husbandry lie, encouraging 

 weeds, they seem so like ruins that they are selected as 

 nesting-places by the wheat-ear ; and as they are left alone 

 in their desolation, unoccupied by crop and useless as pasture, 

 till the broods are hatched (which is not later than June), 

 and as the birds then begin to resort to the downs and open 

 commons, the "fallow-chat," "wheat-ear," and "clod-hopper," 

 are not inappropriate names. But the bird, though bor- 

 dering on it, is not quite a bird of cultivation ; and therefore 

 the names are rather uncomplimentary in an agricultural 

 point of view. Wheat-ears breeding in the cultivated lands, 

 are not so expressive of desolation as bitterns in a city ; but 



