3 54 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



DESERT WHEATEAR. Saxicola desert i, Riippell. 

 Length, 6 in. ; tail, 0-6 in. ; wing, 3-75 in. ; tarsus, 

 1 in. 



Hah. North Africa, Palestine, Arabia, and Southern 

 Persia ; wintering in Beluchistan, Sind, and N.W. India. 



One near Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Nov. 26, 1880 : Dal- 

 gleish, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, Edinh., 1881, vol. vi. p. 64, 

 and Zool., 1881, p. 146. Exhibited by Mr. Dresser, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1881, p. 453. 



One near Kihisea, Holderness, Oct. 17, 1885 : Eagle Clarke, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1885, p. 835 ; Zool, 1885, p. 479. In 

 the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. 



One, Arbroath, Dec. 28, 1887 : Drummond Hay, Proc 

 Zool. Soc, March 6, 1888 ; and Ibis, 1888, p. 283. 



Obs. This species, commonly known as the 

 Desert Chat, is one of the most familiar birds on 

 the arid deserts of the Algerian Sahara, Egypt, Nubia, 

 and Arabia, and is well known also to travellers on 

 the sandy plains of the North-West Provinces of 

 India. How it comes to be met \vith in the British 

 Islands is a mystery as yet unexplained. 



AQUATIC WARBLER. Acrocephalus aquaticus(Gme\iD.). 

 Length,4-5 in.; bill, 0-5 in.; wing, 2-5 in.; tarsus, 0*75 in. 



Hah. Central and Southern Europe ; migrating to 

 North Africa in winter. 



One, Hove, near Brighton. Oct. 19, 1853 : A. Newton, 



Proc Zool. Soc, 1866, p. 210. 

 One near Loughborough, Leicestershire, summer 1864 : 



Harting, Ibis, 1867, p. 468 ; Zool, 1867, p. 946. 

 One near Dover: Gurney, Zool, 1871, p. 2521. In Dover 



Museum. 



