By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



171 



not quite so common as the stonechat, may often be seen on our 

 Downs. Montagu speaking of it fifty years ago, says "it is plenti- 

 ful in Wiltshire," but being a shy and solitary bird, only seen 

 singly or in pairs, it is certainly not now numerous. In plumage 

 it is not so gay as its congener, but prettily marked, and in colour 

 mottled brown ; and in song it is pronounced superior : it is also 

 said, when reared from the nest in a cage, to be a skilful imitator 

 of other birds. It derives its name of " Whinchat" and "Furze- 

 chat,'' from the whin or furze which it loves to frequent : with us 

 it is migratory, arriving in April and departing for more Southern 

 latitudes in the autumn. 



"Wheatear." (Saxicola cenanthe.) This is essentially one of our 

 Down birds, and few inhabitants of Wiltshire can be ignorant of 

 its handsome active figure: it loves the bare open Down, especially 

 a stony Down, where it flits from stone to stone in search of its in- 

 sect food : it is the largest of the genus, and very prettily marked ; 

 the upper part of the head and back pearl grey, the wings and 

 cheeks black, the under parts pale buff, while the upper part of the 

 tail is pure white, and from the singular manner in which by a 

 lateral expansion of the feathers it spreads its tail like a fan, it 

 may at once be recognized : it is migratory, but one of the first to 

 arrive, and the last to leave us. For several years past I have 

 noticed its first appearance here on or within two days of the 26th 

 March : it is considered a great delicacy, and in consequence is 

 much sought for in some districts ; it breeds in a deserted rabbit 

 burrow, or some deep hole under the turf. Mr. Marsh says, it is 

 called in Wiltshire the "Horse Snatcher," but he does not know 

 the reason of the term, and the name is quite new to me. 



" Grasshopper Warbler." (Salicaria locustella.) This, the most 

 shy and retiring of all the warblers, derives its name from the 

 rapid ticking noise which it will continue for a long time without 

 intermission ; and its curious note is so like the chirp of the grass- 

 hopper, that it is often mistaken for it. As soon as it arrives in 

 the spring, it makes known the fact by the cricket-like ticking 

 which proceeds from the midst of the very thickest bush or furze, 

 where it hides itself from human sight, and here it skulks and 



l 2 



