THE WHEATEARS. 295 



Nest. Generally placed in burrows, sometimes at a consider- 

 able distance. In construction it resembles that of the Wheat- 

 ear. 



Eggs. Four or five in number. Pale greenish-blue with the 

 faintest indication of pale brown spots on some of them. Axis, 

 o'S5-o'9 inch ; diam., 0*65. 



III. THE BLACK-THROATED WIIEATEAR. SAXICOLA STAPAZINA. 



Motacilla stapazina^ pt. Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 331 (1766, 



<$ nee. ? ). 



Saxicola riifa, Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 203, pi. 23 (1874). 

 Saxicola stapazina, Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 387 (1881) ; 



id. Br. B., i., p. 307 (1883); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 6 



(1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. i. (1885); Saunders, 



Man., p. 23 (1889). 

 Saxicola occide?italis, Salvad. Elench. Uc. Ital., p. 116 (1886). 



Adult Male. Head, neck, and mantle rich sandy-rufous, 

 generally whiter on the forehead ; lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts pure white ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and quills 

 black, the former sandy-buff near the back ; centre tail-feathers 

 black, with a white base ; remainder white, excepting a narrow 

 black tip, which increases in width towards the outermost, 

 where it forms a broad black band at the end, and extends 

 some distance up the outer web ; extreme base of forehead, 

 lores, line above and behind the eye, sides of face, cheeks, 

 and upper throat, black ; remainder of under surface of body 

 from the middle of the throat downwards rich sandy-rufous ; 

 sides of body less distinctly washed with sandy-buff, the abdo- 

 men and under tail-coverts creamy- white ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts black; quills dusky below, ashy-whitish along the 

 inner edge ; bill and feet black ; iris brown. Total length, 57 

 inches; culmen, 0-55; wing, 3*55; tail, 2*3; tarsus, 0-9. 



Adult Female. Browner than the male, with brown wings and 

 tail ; the head and back sandy-brown, the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts white ; ear-coverts sandy-rufous ; throat ashy-brown 

 with a blackish patch in the middle ; lower throat, fore-neck, 

 breast, and sides of body sandy-rufous, the abdomen isabelline. 

 Total length, 57 inches; wing, 3*45. 



