PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 331 



bushes or in a hedgerow. In structure it is not unlike a blackbird's, but is usually 

 built externally of bracken stalks, sometimes moss or heather, with a layer of mud. 

 The lining is of fine dry grasses. (PI. xiv.) The cock has been seen to share in 

 the work of building (Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, p. 74 ; Bailly, Ornith. de la 

 Savoie, ii. p. 214). Eggs, often 4, sometimes 5, and rarely 6, generally with a 

 more distinctly blue-green ground and bolder markings than the blackbird's, and 

 very like some varieties of the fieldfare's egg. (PI. C.) Average size of 100 

 British eggs, 1*19 x '84 in. (30'3 x 21 '5 mm.). Laying begins in the last fortnight 

 of April, but most eggs are found about the second week of May. The cock is not 

 known to assist in incubation. The period of incubation is about a fortnight. 

 Two broods are certainly reared in some cases. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Worms, insects, snails, berries. The young are fed by both parents 

 chiefly on worms and insects. [F. B. K.] 



6. Song Period. In this country during the breeding season. [F. B. K.] 



WHEATEAR [Saxicola cenanthe cenanthe (Linnaeus). Whiterump, horse- 

 match, clodhopper. French, traquet motteux ; German, grauer Steinschmdtzer ; 

 Italian, cul bianco]. 



I. Description. Distinguished by the white upper tail-coverts and the large 

 amount of white at the base of the tail feathers. (PL 40.) The male in nuptial 

 dress has the upper parts pearl-grey, more or less tinged with brown, a conspicuous 

 black patch on the side of the head, and a broad white superciliary stripe extending 

 forward to the forehead. The wing-coverts are dark brown almost black with 

 narrow margins of pale brown ; the wing quills are also dark brown, the secondaries 

 having narrow margins of pale brown. The chin, neck and breast are of a rich buff, 

 fading into pale buff on the flanks, while the abdomen is white. The tail feathers 

 have the basal half, or rather more, pure white, the rest black, except the two middle 

 feathers, which have the exposed portions black, the base white. After the autumn 

 moult the grey of the upper parts is hidden by the broad brown fringes of the 

 feathers. The ear-coverts are of a rufous brown, shading into greyish brown, 

 instead of black ; while the throat, fore-breast, and flanks are of a fawn colour ; the 

 lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts are cream-coloured. The wing quills 

 and tail feathers have more or less conspicuous greyish white tips. The female 

 resembles the male in autumn dress, but is duller. She may be distinguished from 

 the female Isabelline-wheatear by her smaller size, greater amount of white in the 

 tail, and the darker coloration of the under wing-coverts. The juvenile plumage 



