498 



NATCIIAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



sidereil members of tho Miiscicapiiliu, on account of their somewhat broader bills, 

 shorter tarsi, ami stronger rictal bristles. The wheatears {iSaxicola) form a very marked 

 group of peculiar coloration, black and white being the chief colore, often combined 

 with gray on the back. Both these and the bush-chats (Pratincola) are exclusively 

 Old World inhabitants, with the exccjjtion of Saxicolu (jeuunlhe, the wheatear figured, 

 inasmuch as it invades the North American fauna from both sides, over Iceland and 



Fig. 243. —Saxicola ananthe, niioatcar ; Pratineola nibelra, whiiicliat ; P. rubicola, stonechat. 



Greenland in the east, and Alask,i in tlie west, Iml its number in our continent is evi- 

 dently yet very .small. As it is very fond of rocks and stones, it is quite at home in 

 the bleak northern regions, where it is a consiiicuous feature by its light colors imd its 

 j)eciiliar habits of simultaneously jerking u|p the tail and dipping the breast in a spas- 

 modic sort of way, while emitting a curious call note, consisting of three loud clicks, 

 often rendered by ' chick-chCick-chCwl-.'' The genus is ])rincipally African, and southern 

 species are mostly inhabitants of arid and stony deserts. 



