WHEATEAR. 6 1 



It has, however, besides a brief and hurried song, often 

 uttered whilst the bird is in the air ; the motions of the 

 tail and wings whilst perching resemble those of the 

 Stonechat. Its food consists of insects of various kinds, 

 seized usually whilst on the wing. It builds its nest 

 either very low down in some bush, or on the ground ; 

 it is difficult of discovery, and the bird is said to 

 approach it by a labyrinthine track. The eggs, five or 

 six in number, are of a blue or bluish-green colour, 

 spotted or speckled at the larger end. 



WHEATEAR. 



Saxicola cenanthe ; Motteux cul blanc ; Der 

 Steinsclimatzer. 



Fallowchat ; Stonechat ; Stonechecker ; Whitetail. 



Bill, black ; legs and claws, brownish-black ; head, 

 crown, neck, on the back, and nape, bluish-grey ; black 

 patch encircling the eye ; chin, throat, and stripe over 

 the breast, cream colour ; breast, pale brown ; upper 

 tail coverts, white, and very conspicuous when the bird 

 is on the wing ; tail, black. The female has a brown, 

 instead of a black, mark around the eye, and her colours 

 are generally fainter than those of the male. Length, 

 six and a half inches. 



This pretty bird is usually the first of the summer 

 migrants in the early spring ; it generally precedes the 

 Chiff-chaff by a few days, and makes its appearance in 

 the vicinity of Dublin about the third or fourth week in 

 March. Some years ago I saw the Wheatear and also 

 the Snow Bunting on St. Patrick's Day, i/th March, 



