302 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Migration. — The Greenland wheatear has the most remarkable 

 migration route of any of our passerine birds, which evidently follows 

 the ancestral route by which the species originally invaded Greenland 

 and North America. From its winter range in western Africa it passes 

 through England mainly in May, but often in April and sometimes as 

 early as the first of April ("Witherby, 1920) ; it has been known to ar- 

 rive in Greenland as early as April 4-12 (Chamberlain, 1889); and it 

 has been taken several times in Quebec in May and June, where it 

 probably breeds occasionally as far south as the north shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. The wheatear is undoubtedly a very hardy 

 bird, but it is remarkable that it can survive on that long, northern 

 route, which has to be covered at a season when that inhospitable 

 region is locked in ice and snow and when food must be very scarce. 



The return trip in fall over the same route is made largely in Septem- 

 ber and October, though a late straggler was taken at Godbout, 

 Quebec, on November 9, 1886 (Comeau, 1890), and the last one was 

 seen that year in southern Greenland on October 5 (Chamberlain, 

 1889). At these dates winter must have held an icy grip on those 

 northern countries. 



Nesting. — The former scientific name, Saxicola, and the old common 

 name, stonechat, well indicate the haunts and the nesting habits of 

 the wheatear, for it seems to prefer to live on the barren, stony slopes, 

 where there are loosely piled stones and boulders scattered about over 

 the open spaces. Its nest is usually well hidden under stones, or in 

 crevices among the rocks or in cliffs or walls. Referring to the nesting 

 of the Greenland wheatear, Montague Chamberlain (1889) writes: 

 "It builds in locations similar to the Snowflake, though it commonly 

 selects a spot under 600 feet high. The situation of the nest is also 

 similar, though the present species goes farther into the heaps of 

 stones — sometimes as much as four feet or more. A favorite situation 

 for the nest is the wall of a house or a stone fence." 



John Ripley Forbes (1938) found a nest on Baffinland that was 

 tucked in a crevice in a cliff 8 or 10 feet high. "It was constructed of 

 dry grasses and beautifully lined with the white feathers of the 

 ptarmigan. The entrance to the crevice was so small that it would 

 not admit my hand through the entrance. The crevice ran some dis- 

 tance back into the rock and, during another visit, I found the young 

 had left the nest on hearing my approach and had retreated into the 

 rock, to return after I had left." 



Eggs. — Six or seven eggs make up the usual set for the Greenland 

 wheatear, but as many as eight and even nine have been reported; 

 these are larger numbers than are usually laid by the European bird. 

 The eggs are similar to those of the European wheatear, but are 

 slightly longer on the average. 



