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to form a kind of tent or aWning» with a flick at the opehing 14 

 tvhich a running noofe of hair is faftened : in the night time, and 

 not unfrequenlly when difturbed or frightened^ the Wheat-ears enter 

 ihefe traps for fafety and are taken^ 



The excellence of the Wheat-ear aS ah article of food has ob- 

 tained it the emphatic name of the Englifh Ortolan, for which rea- 

 fon they are fought after with avidity^ Mr. Pennant obferves^ 

 that the numbers enfnared in his time, in the diftri6t bf Eaftbourn 

 alonCj amounted to 1840 dozen, which tifually fold for fixpence a 

 dozen* Mr* Montagu informs us, it is a common cuftom in thofe 

 parts where the Wheat-ear is taken, to vifit the traps fet by th^ 

 the fhepherds, take out the bird> and leave a penny in each as a re- 

 ivard to the owners ; remarking further^ that thefe birds ufually 

 fell for a fhilling a dozen. 



Nor was the moderate price abovementibned unufual in the parts 

 adjacent. In Portland, where thefe birds are called the Snorter, and 

 ^re entrapped in great numbers, Dr. Pultney alTures uSj the price 

 is one fhilling per dozen* More than thirty dozen, adds this accu- 

 rate writer, are faid to have been taken in a day, by one perfon. 

 In 1796, an inllance, he fays, occurred, of even fifty dozen being 

 caught in one day. It is further ftated, that a perfon in the Wey- 

 mouth market, had paid thirty pounds to one man for Wheat-ears, 

 in the year 1194^, at one fhilling a dozen ; and that the fame vender 

 had been fupplied with fifty dozen more than could be difpofed of. 



Dr. Latham obferves, thai quantities of thefe birds are eaten on 



