WHILK. 



533 



ever since ; and now, while writing- this, the twenty-second day of 

 December, they are in full song-. When in a large cage or aviary, where 

 there is plenty of room, it is very amusing- to see them at play, flying 

 up and down, and spreading open their large wings in a curious manner, 

 dancing and singing at the same time."* 



These birds usually sell for a shilling a dozen ; and it is a common 

 custom in those parts where they are taken, to visit the traps, take out 

 the bird, and leave a penny in each as a reward for the shepherd. It is 

 esteemed a great delicacy, not much inferior to the ortolan, and is 

 sometimes sent to the London market ready picked. 



The song of this bird is pleasingly varied ; is uttered not unfre- 

 quently on the wing, hovering over the female in the courting season, 

 and displaying its tail in a very singular manner, by an expansion of 

 the feathers. Its flight is smooth and rapid, but near the surface of the 

 ground ; and it commonly alights upon the top of a small hillock, stone, 

 or wall. 



In the continuation to Shaw's Zoology, Mr. Stephens has removed 

 this species to the head of a new genus, which he has named Vitta 

 flora. Several authors have described a variety of this bird, having a 

 mixture of whitish and fulvous on the upper part, and very small grey 

 spots on the lower part of the neck ; and the two middle feathers of the 

 tail wholly black. This variety is named the grey wheatear by Mr. 

 Pennant, in the Appendix to his British Zoology. 



On the 24th of March, 1804, a vast number of these birds made 

 their first appearance on the south coast of Devon, near Kingsbridge, 

 in a low sheltered situation, and continued in flock the whole of the 

 day, busied in search of food: the flock consisted entirely of males, 

 without a single female amongst them. For some time the wind had 

 been fluctuating, and the weather cold, attended with hail and snow, 

 for a day or two preceding their appearance ; and a strong gale of wind 

 from the east, obliged these birds to make a landing so much farther to 

 the westward than usual in such numbers. The Wheatear is by no 

 means common in Devonshire or Cornwall in the breeding season, and 

 never plentiful in either during the migrative seasons ; but is most fre- 

 quently observed on the fallow lands in the autumn. 



WHEEL-BIRD.— A name for the Nightjar. 



WHEETIE-WHY-BIRD. — A name for the White Throat. 



WHEWER.-A name for the Wigeon. 



WHEY BEARD.— A name for the White Throat. 



WHILK — A name for the Scoter. 



