THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. ° 145 
been once found, as I ever heard of, in a torpid state, and yet 
can never be supposed, in such troops, from year to year to 
dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and inquisitive, which 
from day to day discern the other small birds that are known 
to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw 
nothing like a summer bird of passage; and what is more 
strange, not one wheatear, though they abound so in the autumn 
as to be a considerable perquisite to the shepherds that take 
them; and though many are to be seen to my knowledge all 
the winter through in many parts of the south of England. 
The most intelligent shepherds tell me that some few of these 
birds appear on the downs in March, and then withdraw to 
breed probably in warrens and stone-quarries: now and then 
a nest is ploughed up in a fallow on the downs under a furrow, 
_ but it is thought a rarity. At the time of wheat-harvest they 
begin to be taken in great numbers; are sent for sale in vast 
quantities to Brighthelmstone and Tunbridge; and appear at 
the tables of all the gentry that entertain with any degree of 
elegance. About Michaelmas they retire and are seen no more 
till March. Though these birds are, when in season, in great 
plenty on the South Downs round Lewes, yet at Eastbourne, 
which is the eastern extremity of those downs, they abound 
much more. One thing is very remarkable, that though in the 
height of the season so many hundreds of dozens are taken, 
yet they never are seen to flock; and it is a rare thing to see 
more than three or four at a time; so that there must be a per- 
petual flitting and constant progressive succession. It does 
not appear that any wheatears are taken to the westward of 
Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river Arun. 
J did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of 
ring-ousels ; and to take notice whether they continued on the 
downs to this season of the year; as I had formerly remarked 
them in the month of October all the way from Chichester to 
Lewes wherever there were any shrubs and covert: but not one 
