i6o WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



but the eyes of children (who in nest-finding would beat Argus 

 himself) could ever discover the abode of the little whitethroat. 

 Before they leave this country, these birds collect together, and 

 are seen searching the hedges for insects in considerable but 

 scattered flocks. They frequently fly in at the open windows 

 in pursuit of flies, and chase them round the room quite fear- 

 lessly. The gardener accuses them of destroying quantities of 

 cherries, by piercing them with their bills : they certainly do 

 so, but I am always inclined to suppose that it is only the 

 diseased fruit that they attack in this way, or that which has 

 already been taken possesston of by small insects. 



The wheatear^ does not arrive till the first week of April, 

 when they appear in considerable numbers on the sand-hills, 

 flying in and out of the rabbit-holes and broken banks, in con- 

 cealed corners of which they hatch. Their eggs are peculiarly 

 beautiful, being of a pale blue delicately shaded with a darker 

 colour at one end. Though of such repute in the south of 

 England, it is not ever sought after here. As a boy, on the 

 Wiltshire downs, I used to be an adept at catching them in 

 horsehair nooses, as we used to consider them particularly good 

 eating. The shepherds there, as well as on the South downs, 

 make a considerable addition to their income by catching 

 wheatears and sending them to the London and Brighton 

 markets. 



The swallows and swifts arrive also about the middle of 

 April. It is a curious thing to observe how a pair of swallows 

 season after season build their nest in the same angle of a 

 window, or corner of a wall, coming immediately to the same 

 spot, after their long absence and weary flight, and either 

 repairing their old residence or building a new one. 



Great numbers of sand-martins build in the banks of the 

 river, returning to the same places every year, and after clearing 

 out their holes, they carry in a great quantity of feathers and 

 dried grass, which they lay loosely at the end of their subter- 

 ranean habitation. 



The swifts appear always to take up their abode about the 

 highest buildings in the towns and villages, flying and screaming 



' The wheatear {Saxicola asnanihe), an abundant summer visitor, arrives by a few pairs 

 at a time on the west coast, but on the eastern side of Scotland in flocks of thousands at 

 a time. In hilly districts the nest is generally placed in the holes of dry-stone walls, but 

 on the coast mostly in deserted rabbit-holes (Gray, p. 87 ; Saxby, p. 69). 



