296 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



NOTE. The male of the Black-throated Wheatear is easily distinguished 

 by its sandy-rufous head and back, and white rump, black wings, and black 

 under wing-coverts. The female can be distinguished from the female of S. 

 ananthe by its much smaller size and dark ashy, not whitish, under wing- 

 coverts. 



Range in Great Britain. A male of this Chat, in adult plu- 

 mage, was shot near Bury, in Lancashire, about the 8th of May, 

 1875. It was recorded by Mr. R. Davenport, and identified by 

 Mr. Howard Saunders and other ornithologists. 



Range outside the British Islands. There are two forms of 

 Black-Throated Wheatear, one western (S. stapazind) and one 

 eastern (S. melanokuca). It is the western bird which has 

 occurred in England, and also in Heligoland, and this bird 

 breeds in Algeria, Morocco, Spain, and the South of France, 

 to about the line of the Loire. Both forms are met with in 

 Italy, and the western bird breeds there, and it is said that inter- 

 mediate specimens occur between the two races, which some 

 naturalists do not admit to be distinct. The eastern Black- 

 throated Wheatear occurs in Greece and Palestine, and in 

 Asia Minor and South Russia as far as Persia, and winters in 

 N.E. Africa/, while the western one winters in West Africa. 



Habits. Resemble those of our Wheatear, the bird inhabiting 

 rocky localities on the hills of Southern Europe, and nesting 

 in the grass, in the shelter of a crevice in the rocks, or in old 

 ruins. 



Nest. Loosely made of moss and grass, and lined with roots 

 and hair. 



Eggs. Four or five in number, of a light blue colour, sprin- 

 kled with reddish dots, generally all over the egg, but some- 

 times forming a ring round the larger end. Occasionally the 

 eggs are spotless. Axis, 07-0-8 inch ; diam, 0*55-0-6. 



THE DESERT WHEATEAR. SAXICOLA DESERTI. 



Saxicola deserti, Temm., PI. Col., iii., pi. 359, fig. 2 (1825); 

 Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 215, pi. 27 (1874); Seeb., Cat. B. 

 Brit. Mus., v., p. 383 (1881); id. Br. B., i., p. 304 (1883) ; 

 B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 7 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. 

 B., pt. ii. (1886); Saunders, Man., p. 25 (1889). 



