* 
‘A Pal? , 
298 BRITISH BIRDS. 
SAXICOLA CGENANTHE. 
THE WHEATEAR. 
(PLate 9.) 
Ficedula vitiflora, Briss. Orn. iii. p.449 (1760). 
Ficedula vitiflora grisea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 452 (1760). 
Ficedula vitiflora cinerea, Briss. Orn. ili, p. 454 (1760). 
Motacilla cenanthe, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 152 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
(Bechstein), (Wolf), (Gould), (Gray), (Degland), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Sun- 
devall), (Newton), (Dresser), &c. 
Sylvia cenanthe (Zinn.), Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 288 (1787). 
Motacilla leucorhoa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 966 (1788, ex Buff.). 
Sylvia leucorhoa (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 531 (1790). 
Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 217 (1802). 
Vitiflora cenanthe (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816). 
(Enanthe vitiflora (Briss.), Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. B. p. 54 (1817). 
(Enanthe cinerea (Briss.), Vietll. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 418 (1818). 
Motacilla vitiflora (Briss.), Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 472 (1826). 
Saxicola rostrata, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. aa (1833). 
Saxicola libanotica, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. bb (1838). 
Saxi¢ola cenanthoides, Vig. Zool. ‘ Blossom,’ p. 19 (1839). 
Saxicola leucorhoa (Gmel.), Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p, 64 (1857). 
This interesting and lively little bird is one of the first to arrive in 
Britain in early spring, his presence being often noted before the last snow 
has disappeared. A lively little creature, of conspicuous plumage, and 
haunting the open ground, the Wheatear is rarely overlooked, and is 
often the only representative of bird-life in districts both wild and 
desolate. Although it is pretty generally diffused over the British Islands 
during the summer, it is certainly a local bird, and its breeding-grounds 
are almost invariably confined to the wilder districts and tracts of open 
country. It is much rarer in the south, and parts of the west of England, 
becoming much more frequent as we go north; whilst in Scotland, even 
in the outlying Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, the Wheat- 
ear is one of the commonest of birds in all the wilder districts. The same 
remarks will apply to the bird’s distribution in Ireland, it being a regular 
summer visitant, and found commoniy in all suitable localities. Outside 
the British Islands the Wheatear’s range is exceeded by few other British 
Passerine birds. It breeds throughout Central and Northern Europe, going 
as far north as land is found, and in Southern Europe where the mountains 
are high enough to allow of the growth of the pine and the birch. Westwards 
its breeding-range extends over Iceland as far as Greenland and Labrador, 
and eastwards throughout Northern Siberia, the mountains of Persia and 
Syria, and beyond Behring’s Straits into Alaska. In winter it is found in 
a. 
