290 ALLEN s NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



the latter birds in their black legs and in the different colour of 

 the sexes, though they never have red tails. On the contrary, 

 they nearly all have the rump and base of the tail white, and 

 the mottling of the young is somewhat different in character 

 from that of Thrushes and Redstarts. 



The Chats are birds of desert and rocky countries as a rule, 

 and are only found in the Old World, where they avoid the 

 forest districts, so that no species of the genus Saxicola is 

 found in the Indo-Malayan or Australian Regions. On the 

 other hand, there are many Chats in the ^Ethiopian Region, and 

 a large number of species inhabit the Mediterraneo-Persic Sub- 

 region. In most countries they are resident, but some are migra- 

 tory to a certain extent, none, however, equalling our Common 

 Wheatear in this respect. 



THE WHEATEAR. SAXICOLA CENANTHE. 

 (Plate XXV.} 



Motadlla cenanthe, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 332 (1766). 



Saxicola cenanthe, Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 347 (1839); Newt. ed. 

 Yarr., i., p. 289 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 187, pi. 21 

 (1874) ; Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 391 (1881) ; id, 

 Br. B., i., p. 298 (1883) ; B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 6 (1883); 

 Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. i. (1885) ; Saunders, Man., p. 

 19 (1889). 



Adult Male. General colour above slaty-blue, slightly washed 

 with brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; wing-coverts 

 and quills brownish-black, with obsolete brownish margins, the 

 secondaries narrowly fringed with ashy-whitish at the ends; centre 

 tail-feathers blackish-brown, the remainder white, with the ter- 

 minal third blackish-brown, forming a broad band ; crown of 

 head grey, like the back; base of forehead white, with a distinct 

 white eyebrow running from the base of the bill to beyond 

 the line of the ear-coverts ; lores, eyelids, sides of face, and ear- 

 coverts, black ; cheeks, throat, sides of neck, breast, and sides of 

 body, pale tawny-buff; the centre of the breast, abdomen, thighs, 

 and under tail-coverts creamy-white ; axillaries white, with dusky 

 bases ; under wing-coverts black with white edges ; quills ashy 

 below ; bill and feet black ; iris dark brown. Total length, 5 '8- 

 inches; culmen, 0*65; wing, 37; tail, 2*1; tarsus, ro. 



