THE WHEATEAR. 



303 



The fact that there are two races of Wheatears has frequently been 

 noticed. Some weeks after the arrival of the typical birds a larger and 

 buffer race is reported to arrive on our shores, and to pass northwards on 

 migration. Some ornithologists think that the later arrivals are the young 

 of the previous year, which retain more of their autumn plumage in the 

 spring than older birds do ; whilst it has been suggested that they are the 

 Wheatears which breed in Greenland, passing through on migration via 

 the Shetland Islands and Iceland, and which are somewhat larger and 

 buffer than our birds, and almost constitute a distinct local race. 



The "Wheatear has no very near ally ; and the male is not likely to be 

 confused with any other species of Chat. The female may be distinguished 

 from S. isabeUlna and the female of S. deserti by having less black on the 

 tail. The black on the terminal portion of the tail- feathers (except the 

 two centre ones) occupies, less than one third of the length of the feather 

 in S. cenanthe, whilst in the other two species it occupies more than one 

 third. 



