that some hundred dozens are caught annually by the 
Shepherds, who sell them for the sake of their flesh, 
which is very delicious, particularly in Autumn, when 
they become very fat : I believe it is not generally 
known that S. hortensis , or the Greater Pettichaps, also 
become quite as fat, and its flesh is quite as delicious, 
or perhaps more so, as it feeds almost entirely on fruit. 
1 have seldom heard the Wheat-ear sing when wild, 
and when I have, its song was very soft, and scarcely to 
be heard, except when very near it; though I must 
allow I have never been much in the places that they 
frequent in Summer, so that they may sing more than I 
am aware of ; but in confinement, they are almost con- 
tinually in song, and sing by night as well as day ; 
they have a very pleasant, variable, and agreeable song, 
different from all other birds, and sometimes it is very 
loud, and they continue it a great length of time, not 
continually breaking off like a Robin-Redbreast, and 
some other birds; but their Winter song is best, and 
most varied : a pair that I possess at present were 
caught in September last, and they began to sing in a 
few days, and have continued in song ever since, and 
now while writing this, the twenty-second day of De- 
cember, they are in full song. When in a large cage or 
aviary where there is plenty of room, it is very amusing 
to see them at play, flying up and down, and spreading 
open their large wings in a curious manner, dancing 
and singing at the same time. 
In confinement these birds require the same sort of 
food as the Stonechat,Whinchat, and Nightingale, feed- 
ing freely on the 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 almost all sorts of insects, except the common 
earth-worm ; all the sorts that the Nightingale or 
Whinchat will eat, they are also very fond of, and the 
more they have given them the better, and the more 
they will sing : they are particularly fond of cock- 
roaches and crickets, so that any person acquainted 
with a baker may always procure plenty from his shop. 
