212 



THE SfONEGHAT. 



cauglit in the noose. These simple traps are mnch used by the shepherds, who can make and 

 attend to four or five hundred in a day, and have been linovvn to catcli upwards of a thousand 

 Wheatears within twenty-four hours. 



In the northern parts of England, the Wheatear is equally persecuted, but from siiper- 

 stitious motives ; the ignor'ant countrymen imagining that its presence foretells the death of 

 the spectator. In order, therefore, to avert so sad an omen, they kill the bird and destroy its 

 eggs on every opportunity. 



The chief reason for this absurd practice is, that the AVheatear is in the habit of frequenting 

 any locality where it can find shelter for its eggs and young, and, therefore, may often be 



WHEATKAR.— /Saiiorfa mnantke ; V/EJNCBAT.-IVaUncota rubetra ; BTOyiECKAT.—Pratineola rublcola. 



foimd amid old ruins, m burial -gi'ounds, or cairns. " Though it is a very handsome bird," 

 says Mudie, "and in the early season sings sweetly, its haunts have gotten it a bad name. Its 

 common clear 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 stonns or by 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 to the pondering fancy, which dwells in these parts, 

 to associate the Wheatear with all the superstitions that unphilosophically, but not irrever- 

 ently, belong to the place of graves. 



The Stonechat is one of the birds that remain in Europe tliroughout the year, being 

 seen during the winter months among the furze-covered commons which are now rapidly 

 becoming extinct. 



