1036 ■ WHEW— WHITEHEAD 



species, — the "Robins" of the colonists, some of them remarkable 

 for their bright plumage ; and possibly allied to them, as indeed is 

 generally thought, with 5 or 6 species peculiar to New Zealand, 

 are the genera Miro and Myiomoira. But the late Prof. Parker 

 (Trans. Zool. Soc. v. p. 152) saw in the osteology of the first inferior 

 characters which appeared to separate them from their presumed 

 colleagues, and he termed them " Struthious Warblers." Like so 

 many other forms from the same countries, they probably preserve 

 the more generalized structure of earlier and lower types, and 

 should possibly be distinguished as a separate subfamily Petroecinx. 

 All the birds above mentioned form the group Saxicolinx of 

 most authors. Some, however, raise them to the rank of a distinct 

 Ya.milj SaxicoUdai (cf. Warbler, p. 1019); and Dr. Sharpe (Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. iv. pp. 164-199) has placed Petrce,ca and Praticola in 

 the Family Muscicapidm (Flycatcher), 



WHEW or WHEWER, common names of the Wigeon from its 

 call-note. 



WHIMBREL, " the bird that keeps on uttering a cry imitated by 

 whim" (Skeat, Trans. Philolog. Soc. 1888-90, p. 22), — a name made 

 known to Willughby as being used at the mouth of the Tees, and 

 generally adopted in English for Numenius lihseopus (Curlew, 

 page 128). 



WHIN-CHAT, the Motacilla, Saxicola or Praticola rubetra of 

 ornithology, a well-known summer-visitant to this country, in many 

 parts of which it is common, and from its call-note named Utick. 

 It has much of the habit of the Stone-chat, especially in perching 

 upon whin-bushes, though more afiecting enclosed lands and fields 

 reserved for hay ; but, unlike that bird, it has no very near ally. 

 As a species it has an extensive range, reaching India and generallj^ 

 Avintering in Africa almost under or perhaps beyond the Equator. 

 In spring the cock is very conspiciious with a white streak over the 

 eye and another on the side of the throat, his back being of a 

 mottled brown and his breast of a delicate buff colour. 



WHIP-POOR-WILL, so named in North America from its cry. 

 One of the Caprimulgidse (Nightjar, page 640), Antrostomus vociferus. 



WHIP-TOM-KELLY, see under Tom. 



WHISKLEY-JACK, apparently a ludicrous adaptation of the Cree 

 name " Whiskse-shawneesh " (Swains, and Richards. F. Bor.-Am. ii. 

 p. 295) of Dysornithia or Perisoreus canadensis, the common Jay (page 

 469) of Canada, occasionally visiting the United States in winter. 



WHITE-EYE, see Zosterops. 



WHITEHEAD, the name in New Zealand for a little bird 

 peculiar to the North Island, and now verging on extinction, a 



