Recreations of a naturalist /
Year: 1906
Type: book
Abstract: from the sea, we catch sight of a littke yellow bird, long and slender, moving rapidly to and fro, snapping at insects as it goes, and pausing after every effort to recover its balance, as it were, by a vigorous upand-down movement of the tail.Thisis the Yellow Wagtail (AZotaczlla Rayz), which comes to us in April and departs in September.The breast of the cock bird looks as bright as that of any Canary, the hen, though in close attendance upon her mate, almost escaping detection from the comparative sombreness of her plumage.In point of numbers at this time of year, this little bird may be said to be the commonest in the marsh, scattered pairs coming into view at almost every hundred yards.They make a skilfully concealed nest in a depression of the ground, often upon the bank of a marsh dyke, under shelter of some overhanging tuft, and lay five eggs of a dull clay colour, which at a little distance looks uniform, but which, upon close inspection, is seen to be distributed in fine specks over the surface.So inconspicuous is the nest, that, unless the birds are watched to or from it, an hour's search for it might prove unavailing.The common Pied Wagtail, so familiar by the village pond side, is seldom seen upon the marsh in May, not more than one pair for every hundred of the yellow bird being visible.It appears to prefer the neighbourhood of man's dwelling, often building its nest in ivy close to the house, and laying a somewhat larger, whiter-looking egg, albeit it is minutely freckled with grey.Wherever the ground is hillocky, affording room fineness of the flesh, and far exceedeth in the fatness thereof.The worst is, that being only seasonable in the heat of summer, and naturally larded with lumps of fat, it is soon subject to corrupt, so that (though abounding within forty miles) London poulterers have no mind to meddle with them, which no care in carriage can keep from putrefaction.That palate-man' shall pass in silence who, being seriously demanded his judgment concerning the abilities of a great lord, concluded him a man of very weak parts because he saw him ata great feast feed on Chickens when there were Wheatears on the table."-Worthies of England, vol.ii.p. 382.This account, having been written more than two centuries ago, when little or nothing was known of the habits of our migratory birds, is, as might be expected, not altogether free from errors.In supposing the Wheatear to be hardly found out of the county of Sussex, Fuller seems to have considered it a resident species, whereas, as we now know, it is a summer migrant, arriving towards the end of March, and departing in September.His statement that it feeds on wheat must have been a pure conjecture, arising from a guess at the meaning of its name, for, so far from being found in the neighbourhood of cornfields, its haunts are on the wide, open downs, fallow fields, and sandy warrens, where its diet consists of insects and their larve, and small thin-shelled mollusca.The suggestion that the Wheatear is so called '"because fattest when wheat is ripe" sounds 1 Cf Willughby, Ornithology, 1678, s.v." Partridge."WHEATEAR ON SOUTH DOWNS | 31 goes on to say, the soldiers did taste with so much amazement, delight, and jollity, that the squire upstairs had ample time to burn all the papers that would compromise him ; and when Lieut.Hopkins, full of Wheatear pie, came to search the house, there was not so much treasonable matter found as could have brought a mouse within the perils of a premunire.At the Restoration, the lord of the manor became Sir William Wilson, of Eastbourne, a dignity well earned by his devotion to the royal cause; but the chronicle goes on to hint that Charles II. was passionately fond of Wheatears, and that possibly the liberality of the squire in supplying his Majesty's table with these delicacies may have had something to do with the creation of the baronetcy.
Source: T Fisher Unwin eBooks
Author: James Edmund Harting
Language: English
Topic: Avian ecology and behavior
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W636485231