212 



THE STONECHA T. 



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

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

 Wheatears within twenty-four hours. 



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

 stitious motives ; the ignorant 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 Wheatear is in the habit of frequenting 

 any locality where it can find shelter for its eggs and young, an 1, therefore, may often be 



WHEATBAR — Sajcimla cmanthe ; WHINi :HAT.— Pralincola rubetra ; STOXECHAT. -Pratincola ruUcda, 



found amid old ruins, in burial-grounds, 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 thai note from the top of the heap which haply covers the bones of one who perished 

 by the storms 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 (he 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 throughout the year, being 

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

 becoming extinct. 



