well known, at least, that this is the signal of depar- 

 ture with the swallows and the fieldfares, which con- 

 gregate with a gentle twittering before they take 

 their respective departure. 



You may depend on it that the bunting {Emberiza 

 miliaria) does not leave this country in the winter. 

 In January, 1767, I saw several dozen of them, in the 

 midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on the 

 downs near Andover: in our woodland inclosed dis- 

 trict it is a rare bird. 



Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all 

 the winter. Quails crowd to our southern coast, and 

 are often killed in numbers by people that go on 

 purpose. 



Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that if the 



wheatear iceitanthe) does not quit England, it certainly 



shifts places ; for about harvest they are not to be 



found, Avhere there was before great plenty of them." 



This well accounts for the vast quantities that are 



caught about that time on the south downs near 



Lewes, where they are esteemed a delicacy. There 



have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, 



that have made many pounds in a season by catching 



them in traps. And though such multitudes are 



taken, I never saw (and I am well acquainted with 



those parts) above two or three at a time : for they 



are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate 



in general ; and, for that purpose, draw towards the 



coast of Sussex in autumn : but that they do not all 



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