G4. WHEATEAR. 
of some small hillock, stone, wall, bank, or other eminence. 
They fly near to the surface, smoothly and rapidly, by a 
series of short starts, and hop along the ground also with 
ereat celerity, inclining the body on stopping, and then standing 
very upright. Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, mentions having 
seen them about the Giant’s Causeway, descending from a 
considerable height to their nests, with motionless wings 
raised above the body in a singular manner. 
They feed on beetles, fiies, and other insects, caterpillars, 
grasshoppers, small snails, slugs, and worms, the former being 
sometimes taken on the wing, springing after them from an 
eminence, or even from the level plain, as well as following 
them on the ground; the bird frequently returning, after the 
manner of other fly-catching species, to its previous post on 
some raised clod, or grass-grown ant-hill—its watch-tower 
both against alarm and for prey. 
Mr. Sweet, in his ‘British Warblers,’ says, that in confine- 
ment the Wheatear is continually in song, and sings by night 
as well as by day, and that their winter song is the best 
and most varied. Their warble is soft and pleasant, and is 
frequently uttered on the wing, while the bird hovers over 
the nest with flickering wings and expanded tail, as also when 
perched on some wall, mound, or other projection. It is often 
continued uninterruptedly for a considerable time. The ordinary 
note is a sharp chat. 
The nest, which is commenced the middle of May, is some- 
times well hid in the immermost recess of some crevice among 
rocks, in an old wall, stone-quarry, gravel-pit, sand-pit, or 
chalk-pit, and frequently in a deserted rabbit-burrow, or the 
hollow under some large clod, tuft, or stone. Mr. Hewitson 
has known one in the bank of a river, in a hole deserted. 
by a Sand Martin. It is rudely constructed of fine dry stalks 
of grass or moss, feathers or wool, rabbits’ fur, hair, or any 
other ‘odds and ends’ that may chance to be procurable. 
_ The eggs, usually from four to six in number, sometimes, 
though very rarely, seven, are of an elegant rather elongated 
form, and of a uniform delicate pale blue colour, deepest at 
the larger end. A. J. Drake, Esq. bas some varieties quite 
white. 
The young are abroad from the middle of May to June, 
so that a second brood is frequently reared before the end 
of July. 
Male: weight, about six drachms and a half; length, six 
