WHEAT-EAR. 
39 
members of this family that are reckoned British, which are 
only three, are readily distinguishable by their peculiar man¬ 
ners. In form they are stout, and the shortness of the 
tail adds to that appearance; and their heads are rather 
thick and round ; but their long and very slender legs, and 
the sprightliness of their actions, give them a peculiar cha¬ 
racter. They are continually flitting from bush to bush, 
or from stone to stone, and when alighting to rest and gaze 
about, the tail is continually in motion. They are birds of 
handsome and varied plumage, and the young and old, male 
and female, in spring and autumn plumage, all present dif¬ 
ferent appearances. 
The Wheat-ear is a summer resident in these islands, and 
although too local in its distribution to be called common, 
is yet, in many places, very numerously dispersed. In spring 
and autumn, the periods of their arrival and departure, they 
are found in immense numbers on some parts of the southern 
coast, especially in the counties of Dorset and Sussex: the 
greater part of these are supposed to be winging their flight 
to or from the northern parts of Europe, as they penetrate 
even beyond the limits of the arctic circle. 
This species is much attached to barren, stony, and rocky 
wastes, and seldom seen in wooded or enclosed country, unless 
in the immediate neighbourhood of a heath or elevated moor. 
Their time of arrival in England is from the middle to the 
end of March, according to the season. A friend, writing 
from Suffolk, says : “ Several pairs of Wheat-ears were 
observed to-day, March 80th, on the smooth declivities of 
Saxtead bottom. One solitary individual made its appear¬ 
ance on the 21st instant, during the late inclement snowy 
weather, but from that period not any more arrived here, 
or at least were not visible until this day, when consider¬ 
able numbers were seen to frequent their favourite spot. 
It has been remarked, that these birds arrive as they depart, 
