94 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



we found the Wheatear breeding in great numbers at the begin- 

 ning of June. All we examined there were <S. rostrata. I never 

 saw any specimens so bright in plumage. The proportions of 

 the bill in the two varieties are 2 to 2"25 inches in width at the 

 nostrils, and 7 to 9 inches in length. While our own Wheat- 

 ear only appears on migration, a very closely allied form belong- 

 ing to the hotter regions of Northern Africa, S. isahellina, re- 

 mains all the year, and breeds on Hermon, only two hours' walk 

 lower down than S. rostrata. Mr. Sclater pointed out to me the 

 identity of S. saltatrix, Menet., with S. isabellina, Riipp. ; and I 

 fully agree with him, excepting that there seems to be a slight 

 constant difference in size between the two, — the species which 

 breeds in mountains being rather the larger, and that which is 

 so numerous in the Judsean desert in winter, which I take to 

 be the typical S. saltatrix, having a black line from the gape to 

 the eye, wanting in all the northern specimens, and which I can 

 scarcely take to be merely a seasonal distinction. The nest and 

 eggs of S. isabellina, which have not before been described, are 

 exactly like those of our common Wheatear. We found them 

 in the beginning of June hard-set. 



The only Chat which is a permanent resident and generally 

 distributed, though not in large numbers, over the whole of 

 Northern and Central Palestine, i. e. the Hill-country, is S. liba- 

 notica, H. & Ehrenb., which has been already mentioned, and the 

 differences between it and the S. lugens of Lichtensteiu pointed 

 out. It differs similarly in its back plumage from S. leucomela, 

 Gould, while the vent of both is white. It is a very conspicuous 

 bird on the rocky hills by the coast, but does not come so far 

 inland as the next species, nor is it ever found in the Dead-Sea 

 region. It was not till the breeding-season that we ascer- 

 tained the remarkable difference between the sexes, having taken 

 the female for a distinct species. She has a uniform cinereous 

 back, dark brown wings, white rump ; tail white, with broad 

 black termination like the male ; throat pale ashy brown, rest 

 of the lower parts dull white. They breed under stones, laying 

 four or five eggs of a delicate bluish white, with pink freckles 

 sparsely scattered over the whole surface, and which are not 

 to be distinguished from those of S. philothamna or S. lugens. 



