EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 189 



THE ISABELLINE WHEATEAE. 

 (Saxicola isabclllna.) 



Plate 51, Fig. 13 



This large Wheatear is an inhabitant of South-eastern Europe 

 and North-eastern Africa, ranging eastwards to Central Asia as 

 far as Northern China. A specimen was shot in Cumberland in 

 November, 1887. 



The nest resembles that of the Common Wheatear, and is 

 generally placed in burrows. 



The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale greenish-blue, 

 with occasionally a slight indication of pale brown spots. They 

 measure from 0"85 to 0'9 inch in length, and about 0-65 inch in 

 breadth. 



THE DESEET WHEATEAE. 

 (Saxicola deserti.) 



Plate 51, Fig. 14. 



The claim of the Desert Wheatear to a place in the British 

 Avi fauna rests upon the capture of two specimens — one obtained 

 on the 26th of November, 1880, near Stirling, and another near 

 Holderness on the 17th of October, 1885. It is found from North 

 Africa to Central Asia and India. Of the habits of the Desert 

 Chat during the breeding season but little is known. 



Its nest is said, by ornithologists who have met with it, to 

 resemble that of the Black-throated Chat. It is placed on the 

 ground, sometimes in the shelter of a bush or in a fissure of the 

 rocks, or not unfrequently in the walls of wells. 



The eggs closely resemble those of the Black-throated Wheat- 

 ear, but are not so brightly coloured, and the pale liver-coloured 

 spots are larger. They are light greenish-blue in ground-colour, 

 spotted with liver-brown of varying degrees of intensity, usually 

 in a zone round the larger end. They measure 077 inch in length 

 and 0"49 inch in breadth. 



