76 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



opinion, that I have frequently observed a 

 horizontal movement. 



Its mode of progression on the ground has 

 been compared by the same observer to that of 

 the Wheatear, "for it neither walks nor runs," 

 he says, " but advances by leaps." I cannot, 

 however, completely endorse this view, for I 

 have frequently seen a Wheatear run, and at 

 times very rapidly. " Unless on a wall, or on 

 bare ground, however, it seldom hops much, for 

 it procures its food chiefly by sallying after 

 insects on the wing, or by alighting on the 

 ground to pick up those which it has observed 

 amongst the herbage, and on trees it flies from 

 branch to branch." 



Although generally distributed in England 

 and Scotland, the Redstart is nowhere very 

 common, being most plentiful, apparently, in the 

 southern counties of England, and becoming 

 rarer as we proceed northward. In Ireland it 

 is scarcely known at all, and does not visit the 

 Hebrides. On the Continent, however, it has 

 a tolerably wide range, extending from Arch- 



