280 NATURAL HISTORY 



are often found in a torpid state : but red- 

 starts, nightingales, white-throats, black- 

 caps, &c. &c. are very ill-provided for long 

 flights ; have never been once found, as I 

 ever heard of, in a torpid state, and yet can 

 never be supposed, in such troops, from 

 year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of 

 the curious and inquisitive, v^hieh from day 

 to day discern the other small birds that are 

 known to abide our winters. But, not- 

 withstanding all my care, I saw nothing 

 like a Summer bird of passage : and what 

 is more strange, not one wheat-ear, though 

 they abound so in the Autumn as to be a con- 

 siderable perquisite to the shepherds that 

 take them ; and though many are to be seen 

 to my knowledge all the Winter through in 

 many parts of the south of England. The 

 most intelligent shepherds tell me that some 

 few of these birds appear on the downs in 

 March, and then withdraw to breed, pro- 

 bably, in warrens and stone-quarries : now 

 and then a nest is plowed up in a fallow 

 on the downs under a furrow, but it is 

 thought a rarity. At the time of wheat- 



