278 SYLVIADA. 
turning to its former elevated position on a lump of earth, 
or the top of a stone, from whence it keeps a sharp look- 
out, both as a measure of precaution as well as for food ; 
but is not so prone to alight on a bush as either of the 
species of Saxicola already described. 
The Wheatears begin to make their nest in the southern 
parts of our island by the middle of April; and on the sea- 
coast, where some remain, Mr. Couch says, “ our prying 
fisher-boys inform me that it is concealed in the bottom of 
a deep recess, beneath some huge stone or rock, far beyond 
the reach of their arm. Consequently, when discovered,— 
a circumstance of some difficulty,—they are able to obtain 
it only by means of a hook fastened to the end of a rod.” 
The Wheatear frequently makes its nest in old walls, or 
in pits from which stone, gravel, sand, or chalk have been 
dug out. In the Journal of a Naturalist, Mr. Knapp says, 
‘“‘one had made her nest deep in the crevice of a stone 
quarry, so carefully hidden by projecting fragments as not 
to be observed from without until part of the rock was 
removed ; her fabric was large and rudely constructed with 
dried bents, scraps of shreds, feathers, and rubbish, col- 
lected about the huts on the down, and contained four pale 
blue eggs. Another hen-bird had descended through the 
interstices of some rather large loose stones, as a mouse 
would have done, and then proceeded laterally to a hollow 
space in a bank, against which the stones were laid; and 
so deep had she penetrated, that many of the stones had to 
be removed before we could discover her treasure: as no 
appearances led to any suspicion of a nest, it would never 
have been detected but for our watchfulness.” 
The same degree of caution, however, is not always ob- 
servable. In Suffolk and Norfolk, the Wheatear, accord- 
ing to Mr. Salmon, “is very abundant on the warrens, and 
