212 
THE ST ONE CHAT. 
caught in the noose. These simple traps are much used by the shepherds, who can make and 
attend to four or five hundred in a day, and have been known to catch upwards of a thousand 
Wheatears within twenty-four hours. 
In the northern parts of England, the Wheatear is equally persecuted, but from super- 
stitious motives ; the ignorant countrymen imagining that its presence foretells the death of 
the spectator. In order, therefore, to avert so sad an omen, they kill the bird and destroy its 
eggs on every opportunity. 
The chief reason for this absurd practice is, that the Wheatear is in the habit of frequenting 
any locality where it can find shelter for its eggs and young, and, therefore, may often be 
WHEATEaR . — Saxicola omanthe ; WHINOHAT. Pratincola nibetra ; STONECHAT.— Pratincola rubicola. 
found amid old ruins, in burial-grounds, or cairns. “ Though it is a very handsome bird,” 
says Mudie, 4 ‘ and in the early season sings sweetly, its haunts have gotten it a bad name. Its 
common clear note is not unlike the sound made in breaking stones with a hammer ; and as it 
utters that note from the top of the heap which haply covers the bones of one who perished 
by the storms or by his own hand ; or from the mound, beneath which there lie the slain of a 
battle-field, magnified through the mist of years ; or from the rude wall that fences in many 
generations, it is no very unnatural stretch to the pondering fancy, which dwells in these parts, 
to associate the Wheatear with all the superstitions that unphilosophically, but not irrever- 
ently, belong to the place of graves. 
The Stonechat is one of the birds that remain in Europe throughout the year, being 
seen during the winter months among the furze-covered commons which are now rapidly 
becoming extinct. 
