195 



THE WHEATEAR. 

 (Saxicola oendnthe.) 



THIS is a lively and vigilant bird. It selects a district, 

 to which it afterwards remains faithful. It likes fallow 

 ground, stony hollows, marsh-land, sandy depressions 

 where there are undulations, also meadows where there 

 are grass-grown mole-hills or grass plots. From one 

 of these small eminences it surveys the surrounding 

 land, and on seeing prey instantly makes for it, and 

 having caught it flies on to another stone or hillock. It 

 also perches on low posts, but only takes to a tree in 

 case of need. As it prefers to be in the open, it is often 

 visible, for when it begins to fly it spreads out its tail 

 and the white feathers at once attract attention. It is a 

 very useful bird, for it lives entirely upon grubs and 

 insects. In autumn it destroys the caterpillars of the 

 white cabbage butterfly. The modest little song is not 

 heard only from the hillocks and stones on which it 

 perches, but also high up in the air when wooing his 

 bride with sweet sounds. It is fairly common in 

 Hungary. 



About the middle of March the Wheatear, with its 

 graceful motions, begins to arrive in numbers on our 

 own Southern and Eastern coasts. It flits over downs 

 and fallow lands, some pairs remaining to make nests in 

 old rabbit holes, and in sandy warrens near the coast, 

 others passing on after a brief rest, seeking higher lati- 

 tudes the rocky moorlands of the Peak, the fallows of 



