THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT. 299 



one would rather hear warblers in the copses, and shoot 

 pheasants and partridges. 



In the north, the wheat-ear is generally found on heaps of 

 stones, by ruins, or on the dry stone walls of burial-grounds ; 

 and though it is a very handsome bird, and in the early 

 season sings sweetly, its haunts have gotten it a bad name. 

 Its common alarm-note is not unlike the sound made in 

 breaking stones with a hammer ; and as it utters that note 

 from the top of the heap which haply covers the bones of 

 one who perished by the storm, or his own hand ; or from 

 the mound beneath which there lie the slain of a battle-field, 

 magnified through the mist of years; or from the rude wall that 

 fences in many generations, it is no very unnatural stretch 

 of the pondering fancy which dwells in such places, to asso- 

 ciate the wheat-ear with all the superstitions that, unphiloso- 

 phically but not irreverently, belong to the place of graves. 

 It comes onward, too, to meet the traveller, and now running, 

 now flying, seems to pilot him to a place beside the " cairn," 

 as if his own bones were soon to be gathered there ; and in 

 that, its note of solemn warning, it is more than usually 

 energetic ; it is seen in the fog, too, and from the contrast of 

 its colours, it is particularly conspicuous even in that. In a 

 ^highland glen, during a highland mist (which wets but warms 

 you), you hear the clacJieran before you see it ; you meet the 

 clacJieran before you see the cairn : so you are at perfect 

 liberty to believe that it is busy breaking the stones that 

 are to cover you if you choose; and, really, there is no 

 accounting for what people will believe in such places or in 

 any place. 



Now, the said clacJieran has merely selected that spot, as 

 you would select some sunny and south-turned nook, shel- 

 tered northward by trees continuing upward to the hill, and 

 bordered southward by a sparkling river rolling onward to 

 the sea a spot where no plant would fail, no blossom be 



