60 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



that the Burthemsoners couldn't take 'em all, and I myself 

 have sent some to Tunbridge "Wells. That was the time o£ 

 dee, Old Boy, for shepherds.' " 



The song is rarely uttered except when the female is 

 sitting close at hand, and the performer is generally perched 

 on a stone, or some ant-hill overgrown with grass ; it is short 

 and very pleasing, and is repeated every few minutes. On 

 these occasions the bird is remarkably imperturbable, and I 

 have heard it continue its song without showing the least 

 concern while I have taken its loving partner from her nest 

 in an old rabbit-hole. 



The nest is usually a mass of short pieces of the fern 

 generally known in Sussex as Brake {Pteris aquilina, the 

 Bracken of the North), and moss, wool, and rabbit's fur. 

 A rabbit's hole being the only place in which I have found 

 it, the nest has always been too much pulled to pieces for 

 me to see what might have been its form before it was 

 disturbed. 



To show how great a luxury these birds were formerly 

 considered for the table we may look back to the time of 

 Charles II., and I cannot refrain from giving the following 

 extract from ' Sussex Archaeological Collections,' vol. xi. 

 (p. 32) 1859 : — " In the coat of arms of the Wilsons well 

 do the Wheatears deserve a conspicuous quartering. The 

 finest and fattest birds were found on the Downs about 

 Beachy Head ; and, alas ! in far greater numbers than is the 

 case nowadays. They were a great card in Mr. Wilson's 

 hand, and he played it freely and ably. Who shall say 

 whether his loyalty or his Wheatears had most to do with 

 his elevation to the rank of baronet, which took place 

 almost immediately after the Restoration ? Certain it is that 

 Charles II. was exceedingly fond of them, and equally certain 

 that Mr. Wilson supplied his Majesty very freely. 



"Dr. Burton, writing to his daughter, tells her he had 



