BRITISH BIRDS. 
37 
and tail, are also pale brown ; the throat and fore part 
of the neck are yellowish white, terminated by a few 
darkish spots on the upper part of the breast ; the sides 
of the neck, and all the under parts are of a pale dingy 
yellow ; the legs are also nearly of that colour. 
This bird is seldom seen, and is best known by the 
lengthened grinding or sibilous noise which it is heard 
to make about the dusk of a still summer’s evening. It 
is an artful bird, and sculks and skreens itself from the 
sight of man, among old furze bushes, or in the thick- 
est brakes and hedges, which it will not readily quit, 
nor be easily forced away. We were favoured with 
the drawing of the bird, from which our figure is 
taken, by Mr Richard Rutledge Wingate, of New- 
castle, and also with a sight of its nest and eggs. The 
nest is composed of coarse dried grass, about three 
inches in thickness, but the space allotted for nidifica- 
tion is very shallow ; it contained five beautiful eggs, 
the ground colour of which was white, but closely freck- 
led all over with spots of a carnation hue. Mr W.’s 
account of the cunning manner in which it places its 
hidden nest, is very curious. He says, that having long 
wished to get the egg of this bird, to add to his curious 
collection, he at length, in June, 1815, after much 
watching, succeeded in eyeing it to the distant passage 
on the top of a whin bush, by which it entered and left 
its nest. Its curious habitation he found was built at 
the bottom of a deep narrow furrow or ditch, over- 
hung by the prickly branches of the whin, and grown 
over with thick coarse grass, matted together year 
after year, to the height of about two feet. Before he 
f 2 
