The Wheat-ear . 
181 
name given to the bird, the wheat-ear is an insect-feeder. 
Fuller was probably also mistaken when he confined the 
range of this much-prized bird to one English county. 
In modern times the wheat-ear, oenanthe, or stone-smatch, 
is found in some abundance in the North of England and 
in Scotland. In the northern counties a superstition 
prevails that its note gives warning of approaching death. 
John Taylor, “the Water Poet,” also includes the 
wheat-ear among the commodities of Sussex, in the 
following doggrel rhymes:— 
“ There were rare birds I never saw before, 
The like of them I think to see no more : 
TIT are called wheat-ears, less than lark or sparrow, 
"Well roasted, in the mouth they taste like marrow. 
When once ’tis in the teeth it is involv’d, 
Bones, flesh, and all, is lusciously dissolv’d. 
The name of wheat-ears, on them is ycleped 
Because they come when wheat is yearly reap’d, 
Six weeks, or thereabouts, they are catch’d there, 
x\nd are wellnigh 11 months, God knows where.” 
(Works, ed. Bindley, 1872.) 
The little Wren, by its habit of frequenting the neigh¬ 
bourhood of human habitations, its bright ^ 
lively movements, and its peculiar shape, 
has always been a favourite with country folk :— 
“ The hedge-sparrow and her compeer the wren, 
Which simple people call our lady’s hen.” 
(Drayton, The Owl.) 
Chester speaks of “the little wren that many young 
ones brings.” Sir Toby Belch , on the entrance of Maria , 
exclaims, “ Look where the youngest wren of nine comes !” 
(Twelfth Night, iii. 2.) It is hardly safe to assume from 
these words that Shakspeare had at any time counted the 
number of wren’s eggs, yet this expression has been 
quoted 'by commentators in proof of the dramatist’s 
accuracy in ornithological details. 
