WHEATEAR 
18 
in the loose dry-stone walls ; sometimes it is in or 
under a stunted bush, and a favourite haunt of the 
bird's is in the rocky, bushy gullies which hold 
the moorland streams. The Ring Ouzel begins to 
nest in the latter half of April. Four is the general 
number of the eggs ; they are light green in 
ground colour, boldly spotted and speckled with 
reddish-brown. The song of the bird is a repeti- 
tion of a few sweet calls, much like the Missel 
Thrush's in tone, but with less vigour and spirit. 
Though somewhat monotonous, when compared 
with many other songs, it has a wild and charac- 
teristic beauty when heard on the open moorland, 
where the wild cry of the Curlew and the voice of 
the stream in its rocky basin are perhaps the only 
other sounds to fill the air. 
WHEATEAR. 
{Saxicola (enanthe.) 
Fallow-chat. — The Wheatear of the open downs 
and the ChifFchafF of the woodland thickets are the 
first to arrive of all spring birds, and of the two 
the Wheatear is perhaps the earliest. It is a bird 
that loves short turf and wide, open spaces, and it 
is still to be found in most unenclosed situations of 
this kind throughout our islands, from the sea- 
