WHEA TEAR.
SAXICOLA (ENANTHE.
ALMOST every portion of the open districts in the British Islands is visited by the Wheatear. The first
arrivals usually make their appearance on the south coast about Qw end of March or early in April. As
these pass on towards the north, or take up their quarters on the hills in the neighbourhood, a continued
stream of fresh comers may be noticed on favourable mornings in the vicinity of the shore. The birds
that remain during the summer on the downs of Sussex are, I believe, among the lirst to show themselves
On the coast. I have noticed a few Hitting round their well-known haunts among the sheltered hollows
on the hills whenever I passed through these localities early in April. The warrens and sandbanks on
the cast coast, and the sheep-walks and moor-lands of the north, are each tenanted in succession—the
latest arrivals (from observations I have made during many seasons) passing on towards the northern
counties, and eventually taking their departure to still more distant breeding-grounds. To the best of
my knowledge, it is visually well into April before the Wheatear is seen in Itoss-sbirc, Sutherland, or
Caithness, the 10th, 13th, and 15th of the month being the dates on which I have first remarked this
species when daily on the bills or along the coast.
On the return journey, the first detachments usually reach the marshes in the vicinity of the south
coast about the beginning id' August, a few stragglers being occasionally seen at an earlier date. From
this time they continue to arrive daily throughout the month ; and their numbers do not fall off till about the
middle of September. A few single birds may not uncommonly be met with for several weeks later ; bull
never yet detected any remaining during the winter months in the British Islands. The last stragglers mot
with in the season of I were a pair I noticed chasing one another on tho downs a few miles west of Brighton
on the 18th of October.
The Whentcar breeds in almost every district 1 have explored when; the nature of the country is
suitable to its habits. In the south, though plentiful on the downs, these birds arc not so numerous
duriui; the summer as in many of the northern counties. The nest is more frequently placed in a rabbitburrow
than in any other situation. They also resort to cracks and crevices among rocks and stones, and, at
times, holes in banks and pits. The earliest date at which 1 have come across tho nest containing eggs
was on April 15th. In this instance the bird had selected a disused burrow in a warm and sheltered valley
near the Dyke hill in Sussex. The greater number of the residents in this locality have, I believe, their
Tull complement of eggs before the end of the first week in May. At this time fresh travellers from the
continent may still be observed on tin- beach and in the Holds along the coast.
The student in natural history, who takes up the works of our various authors, must, I should imagine,
be somewhat perplexed to reconcile the conflicting reports that ho may chance to light upon concerning
the habits of this species. One writer tells us that the Wheatear "not unfrequently porches on trees
and bushes," while possibly the next referred to declares " the Wheatear does not perch on trees and