NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS, 8i 



Diagnostic characters: The eggs of the Arctic 

 Blue-throat cannot be distinguished from those of the 

 Southern Blue-throat, although the two species do not 

 inhabit the same breeding areas : locality is of first 

 importance in identifying specimens. They also closely 

 resemble those of the Nightingale in colour, but are much 

 smaller. 



Family TURDID.E. * Genus Saxicol^. 



Sub-family TURDIN^. 



ISABELLINE WHEATEAR. 



Saxicola isabellina, Ruppell. 



(British : Very rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 



Double Brooded. Laying season, February, March, and 

 June. 



Breeding area : Southern Palaearctic region and 

 North-eastern Ethiopian region. The Isabelline Wheat- 

 ear breeds in East Africa from Somali Land, Masai 

 Land, and Abyssinia to Egypt, and northwards to 

 Palestine, Asia Minor, and the steppes and plains of 

 South-east Russia. Eastwards it breeds in Arabia, 

 Persia, and across Siberia (south of about lat. 56') and 

 the plains and plateaux of Central Asia (reaching an 

 altitude of io,ooo feet) to the upper valleys of the Amoor 

 and North China. 



Breeding habits: The Isabelline Wheatear is an 

 early migrant to its northern breeding stations, reaching 

 those in Asia Minor towards the middle of March. Its 

 haunts are barren grounds strewn with rock fragments and 

 loose stones, and hillsides clothed sparingly with scrub. 

 Mr. Danford states that in Asia Minor it frequented the 



