WHEATEAR. 



off, like a Robin Redbreast and some other birds ; 

 but their winter song is the best and most varied. 



In confinement these birds require the same 

 sort of food as the Stonechat, Whinchat, and 

 Nightingale, feeding freely on bruised hemp-seed 

 and bread, with some fresh, raw, lean meat, cut 

 up in small pieces, and mixed with it : they are 

 also very fond of the yolk of an egg boiled hard, 

 which should be given separately ; also all sorts 

 of insects, — all the sorts that the Nightingale or 

 Whinchat will eat they are also very fond of, and the 

 more they have given to them, the better and the 

 more they will sing : they are particularly fond of 

 cockroaches and crickets.* 



The Wheatear often makes its nest in a deserted 

 rabbit-burrow, or in an old stone quarry ; some- 

 times in a heap of stones, or a hole in a wall ; 

 but most times on the ground. It is composed 

 of moss, and dried stalks and fibres put together 

 with wool, and lined with hair or wool. The eggs 

 are five or six in number, of a uniformly pale blue 

 colour. In September they begin to retire, and 

 seem to assemble from all parts to the Sussex and 

 Dorset downs, contiguous to the coast, preparatory 

 to their departure. The quantity taken annually 

 about Eastbourn is prodigious ; — Mr. Pennant 

 says, 1840 dozen. These are caught in a singular 

 manner, by placing two turfs on edge ; at each end 

 of which a small horse-hair noose is fixed to a stick, 



* British Warblers. 



