TURDIX.t. 



25 



THE DESERT WHEATEAR. 

 Saxicola deserti, Riippell. 



Although the Desert Wheatear has a still more southern habitat 

 than the preceding species, it has undoubtedly been obtained on 

 two occasions in Great Britain. The first example, a male in 

 autumn plumage, shot on the 26th November iSSo, near Alloa in 

 Clackmannanshire, was sent for exhibition at a meeting of the Zoo- 

 logical Society (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 453), by its owner, Mr. J- T- Dal- 

 gleish ; the second, a bird in female plumage, obtained on the 

 Holderness coast, Yorkshire, 17th October 1885, was sent for 

 exhibition by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke (P. Z. S. 1885, p. 835). Three 

 stragglers have been obtained on Heligoland : a male on 26th Oc- 

 tober 1856; a female on 4th October 1857 (these being originally 

 and erroneously recorded as S. stapazind) ; and an adult male in 

 full breeding-plumage, 23rd June 1880. The above appear to be 

 the only records of its occurrence in Europe. 



As implied by its name, the home of this species is to be found 

 in the dry, sandy regions of North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Arabia, 

 Palestine, Persia, the plains of Turkestan up to an elevation of over 

 12,000 feet, and the mountain ranges to the north of Cashmere. 



