298 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



bird, but has occurred on Heligoland on three occasions, in 

 the month of October in 1856 and 1857, and again on the 

 23rd of June in 1880. It is a desert-loving species and extends 

 from Northern Africa to Egypt and India, Arabia and Palestine, 

 east to Turkestan. It winters in the plains of Northern India, 

 and a few may even breed there. In Africa its winter range 

 extends as far south as Somaliland. 



Habits. As its name implies, this little Chat is an inha- 

 bitant of desert countries, and it is emphatically the Wheatear of 

 the Algerian Sahara. In its habits it resembles the Common 

 Wheatear. 



Nest. Resembles that of the Black-throated Wheatear, and 

 is placed on the ground, either under the shelter of a bush or 

 in a fissure of a rock, and, like our Wheatears, it also nests in 

 burrows. 



Eggs. Greenish-blue, with reddish-brown spots distributed 

 over the whole egg, but rather more closely gathered towards 

 the larger end. Axis, 0*8 inch ; diam., o'6. 



THE FURZE-CHATS. GENUS PRATINCOLA. 



Pratincola^ Koch, Syst. Baier. Zool., p. 190 (1816). 



Type, P. rubetra (Linn.). 



The genus Pratincola forms an intermediate link between 

 the Chats and Flycatchers. The bill is broadened and re- 

 sembles that of the latter birds, and, as with the Muscicapida, 

 there are numerous rictal bristles. In the True Chats the bill 

 is narrow and the rictal bristles are few in number and weak ; 

 thus the members of the genus Saxicola are more closely 

 allied to the Robins and Redstarts. The Furze-Chats, however, 

 are Muscicapine Chats. They are entirely confined to the 

 Old World and do not extend into the Australian Region proper. 

 In Africa the genus is strongly developed and its members are 

 also found over the greater part of the Palaearctic and Indian 

 Regions as far as Celebes. 



THE WHINCHAT. PRATINCOLA RUBETRA. 



Motacilla rubetra^ Linn., Syst. Nat, i., p. 332 (1766). 



