298 BRITISH BIRDS. 



SAXICOLA (ENANTHE. 

 THE WHEATEAR, 



(PLATE 9.) 



Ficedula vitiflora, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 449 (1760). 



Ficedula vitiflora grisea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 452 (1760). 



Ficedula vitiflora cinerea, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 454 (1760). 



Motacilla oenanthe, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Bechstein), (Wolf), (Gould), (Gray), (Deyland), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Sun- 



devall), (Newton), (Dresser), &c. 



Sylvia oenanthe (Linn.), Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 288 (1787). 

 Motacilla leucorhoa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 966 (1788, ex Buff.). 

 Sylvia leucorhoa (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 531 (1790). 

 Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 217 (1802). 

 Vitiflora oenanthe (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816). 

 (Enanthe vitiflora (Briss.), Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. B. p. 64 (1817). 

 (Enanthe cinerea (Briss.), Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxi. p. 418 (1818). 

 Motacilla vitiflora (Briss.), Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 472 (1826). 

 Saxicola rostrata, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. aa (1833). 

 Saxicola libanotica, Hempr. et Ehr. Symb. Phys. Aves, fol. bb (1833). 

 Saxicola oenanthoides, Vig. Zool. ' Blossom,' p. 19 (1839). 

 Saxicola leucorhoa (Gmel), Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 64 (1857). 



This interesting and lively little bird is one of the first to arrive in 

 Britain in early spring, his presence being often noted before the last snow 

 has disappeared. A lively little creature, of conspicuous plumage, and 

 haunting the open ground, the Wheatear is rarely overlooked, and is 

 often the only representative of bird-life in districts both wild and 

 desolate. Although it is pretty generally diffused over the British Islands 

 during the summer, it is certainly a local bird, and its breeding-grounds 

 are almost invariably confined to the wilder districts and tracts of open 

 country. It is much rarer in the south, and parts of the west of England, 

 becoming much more frequent as we go north ; whilst in Scotland, even 

 in the outlying Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, the Wheat- 

 ear is one of the commonest of birds in all the wilder districts. The same 

 remarks will apply to the bird's distribution in Ireland, it being a regular 

 summer visitant, and found commonly in all suitable localities. Outside 

 the British Islands the Wheatear's range is exceeded by few other British 

 Passerine birds. It breeds throughout Central and Northern Europe, going 

 as far north as land is found, and in Southern Europe where the mountains 

 are high enough to allow of the growth of the pine and the birch. Westwards 

 its breeding-range extends over Iceland as far as Greenland and Labrador, 

 and eastwards throughout Northern Siberia, the mountains of Persia and 

 Syria, and beyond Behring's Straits into Alaska. In winter it is found in 



