42 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if they were 
about to break up their winter quarters and betake themselves 
to their proper summer homes. It is well known, at least, that 
this is the signal of departure with the swallows and the field- 
iares, which congregate with a gentle twittering before they take 
their respective departure. 
You may depend on it that the bunting {Enibcriza miliaria) 
does not leave this country in the winter. In January, 1767, 
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
I saw several dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, 
among the bushes on the downs near Andover : in our wood- 
land inclosed district 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 
