WIHEATEAR. 63 
by fresh visitors. The males and females both seem to arrive 
simultaneously, but not, at least not in general, in associated 
flocks. They depart again in the end of August or beginning 
of September, and may be seen in large * numbers by the 
sea-shore before finally quitting the land; some continue until 
the first week in October. Mr. Sweet saw a pair hopping 
and flying briskly about on the 17th. of November, in Hyde 
Park. White, of Selborne, relates that Wheatears have been 
observed in winter in many parts of the south of England. 
In Orkney they arrive generally in April; a pair were observed 
in the year 1847 so early as the 23rd. of March; and Mr. 
Macgillivray saw one near Edinburgh on the 28th. of February: 
Montagu had also seen them in February. In backward seasons 
they are later in their arrival. Thus, in Ireland, in 1837, 
they did not appear till the 15th. of April; and in 1840, 
not until the 29th. of that month. In Scotland, Sir William 
Jardine says that they arrive the first week in March. 
They are seen for the most part singly or in pairs, ‘are 
somewhat shy, and, always on the alert, on being alarmed 
flit away suddenly over the nearest eminence, if there be one, 
and so place it between them and the approaching intruder. 
Their careful watchfulness is shewn by a frequent turning of 
the head to the right and left: but, ‘Tutti le volpi si trovano 
in pellicera.’ ‘No fox so cunning but he comes to the furriers 
at last,’ and countless numbers of these birds are taken every 
year on the southern Downs for the table, being much esteemed 
as a delicacy, and sold as such in the season at the various 
inns. Pennant says that nearly two thousand dozen have 
been taken in one season in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, 
in Sussex, alone. The snaring time is from the last week in 
July to about the third week in September, and the shepherd 
‘Trappers’ manage each from five to seven hundred traps: one 
shepherd has been known to take eighty-four dozen in one 
day. In King Charles the Second’s time, it is stated by Sir 
Thomas Brown, in his ‘Account of the Birds found in Norfolk,’ 
- that Wheatears were taken with a Hobby and a net. When 
alarmed, these birds will sometimes prefer trying to hide 
themselves in some shelter to taking flight. If removed from 
their native haunt, and set at liberty, they find their way 
back to it. 
Wheatears very seldom alight on a tree, though Mr. Mac- 
gillivray has once seen one do so, and rarely also upon a low 
bush or hedge, but for the most part perch on the summit 
4 
