WHEATEAR, 
159 
seen in winter ; for, entre nouSy the disappearing of the latter is 
more marvellous than that of the former, and much more unac- 
countable. The hirundines, if they please, are certainly capable 
of migration; and yet no doubt are often found in a torpid 
state: but redstarts, nightingales, whitethroats, blackcaps, &c. 
&c., are very ill provided for long flights ; have never been once 
found, as I ever heard of, in a torpid state, and yet can never 
be supposed, in such troops, from year to year to dodge and 
elude the eyes of the curious and inquisitive, which from day to 
day discern the other small birds that are known to abide our 
winters. But, notwithstanding 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 aU the winter through in 
many parts of the south of England. wheatear. 
The most intelligent shepherds 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 
Brighthelmstone and Tunbridge ; and appear at the tables of all 
the gentry that entertain with any degree 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 East-Bourn, which is the eastern ex- 
tremity 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 th^y 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 appear that any wheatears are taken to 
the westward of Houghton-bridge, which stands on the river 
Arun. 
I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of 
ring-ousels ; and to take notice whether they continued on the 
downs to this season of the year ; as I had formerly remarked 
