These, I observe, when
the spring advances, assemble on some tree in the sunshine, and
join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if they were about to break
up their winter quarters and betake themselves to their proper
summer homes. It is well known, at least, that the swallows and the
fieldfares do congregate with a gentle twittering before they make
their respective departure.
You may depend on it that the bunting, emberiza miliaria, does not
leave this country in the winter. In January 1767 I saw several
dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on
the downs near Andover: in our woodland enclosed district it is a
rare bird.
Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all the winter. Quails
crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in numbers by
people that go on purpose.
Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that 'if the wheatear (oenanthe)
does not quit England, it certainly shifts places; for about harvest
they are not to be found, where there was before great plenty of
them.
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