Definition of "wheater"

It is particularly famous for its wheaters, a small bird, of the size of a lark, not much inferior to an ortolane, which is taken on the SE.

1801, John Walker, Arthur Kershaw, The Universal Gazetteer, page 19

The people have plenty of patridges, woodcocks, snipes, thrushes, woodpigeons, turtle doves, wheaters, and poultry.

1813, Elijah Parish, Sacred Geography

As less and less of the Downs is used as traditional pasture and more grassland is turned over to arable agriculture, the once-common wildlife species – the Adonis Blue and Chalkhill Blue butterflies, grasshoppers and the wheater bird, for example – are fast disappearing.

1987, The Geographical Magazine, page 572