which from day to day discern the other small birds 

 that are known to abide our winters. But, notwith- 

 standing all my care, I saw nothing like a summer 

 bird of passage : and, what is more strange, not one 

 wheatear, though they abound so in the autumn as 

 to be a considerable 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 shep- 

 herds tell me that some few of these birds appear on 

 the downs in March, and then withdraw to breed 

 probably in warrens and stone quarries : now and 

 then a nest is ploughed up in a fallow on the downs 

 under a furrow, but it is thought a rarity. At the 

 time of wheat-harvest they begin to be taken in 

 great numbers; are sent for sale in vast quantities 

 to Brighton and Tunbridge ; and appear at the 

 tables of all the gentry that entertain with any de- 

 gree of elegance. About Michaelmas they retire, 

 and are seen no more till March. Though these 

 birds are, when in season, in great plenty on the 

 south downs round Lewes, yet at Eastbourne, which 

 is the eastern extremity of those downs, they abound 

 much more. One thing is very remarkable — that 

 though in the height of the season so many hundreds 

 of dozens are taken, yet they never are seen to flock ; 

 and it is a rare thing to see more than three or four 

 at a time : so that there must be a perpetual flitting 



and constant progressive succession. It does not 



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