WHEATEAK. 353 



probably breed there*. The route by which these birds 

 reach that country is at present unknown, as is also their 

 winter retreat. It is enough to say that the species is un- 

 known in British Columbia or any other part of Western 

 America, and has never been recorded from Japan or the 

 coast of China. 



The adult male in the breeding season has the bill black ; 

 the irides dark brown : the lores, a small line under the eyes 

 and the ear-coverts, black, bounded above by a Avhite line 

 running from the bill over the eyes to the back of the head ; 

 the top of the head, neck, back and scapulars, of a fine light 

 grey ; wing-coverts and quills almost black, some of the 

 feathers tipped or edged with buff ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 the two middle tail-feathers, with the proximal third white ; 

 the distal two-thirds black, the others with the proximal 

 two-thirds white, the distal third black ; all the lower sur- 

 face of the body buffy-white, deepest on the throat and sides 

 of the neck ; axillaries and lower wing-coverts black, broadly 

 bordered with white : legs, toes and claws, black. 



In the adult female, during the breeding season, the lores 

 are blackish, and the ear-coverts brown, the top of the head, 

 neck and back are hair-brown, and the wing-coverts and 

 quills dark brown ; the rest being much as in the male. 



The young, in their first plumage, are of a light greyish- 

 brown above, the upper tail-coverts being white, though 

 tipped with brown, and beneath of a pale greyish-buff 

 clouded with brown. The marks on the sides of the head 

 are indistinct, and the quills and upper wing-coverts less 

 pure than in the adult. 



Immediately after the breeding season, and before the 

 birds leave this country, the annual moult takes j^lace, 

 the distinction of age and sex then being much less marked : 

 the upper parts of the head and body are of a rich russet- 



* Vigors long ago described the WLeatear of North-west America as a distinct 

 species, under the name of <S'. oenanthoides, but nearly all ornithologists now 

 agree in refusing to admit it as such ; the differences between it and our ordi- 

 nary bird being not greater than those observable in examples obtained in or 

 much nearer to Europe. 



VOL. I. Z Z 



