684 The Sparrow-like Birds 



horse-hair, is usually placed on the ground under a tuft of tall grass or heather, 

 and in it the female deposits four to six greenish blue, faintly spotted eggs. 



Stonechat. Inhabiting practically the same area and occurring in much 

 the same situation, is the little Stonechat (P. rubicola*), which takes its name 

 from its peculiar scolding notes of tak, tak, which resemble the sound produced 

 by striking two small pebbles together. It is, however, more attractively colored 

 than its relative, the male having the head and throat black, the sides of the neck, 

 tertial wing-coverts, and rump white, and the breast chestnut-rufous, paling to 

 light rufous on the abdomen. Its food and nesting habits are practically the 

 same as those of the Whinchat. 



Wheatears. On the basis of a narrow bill and few, weak rictal bristles, 

 the Wheatears (Saxicola) are separated generically from the last. They are 

 essentially inhabitants of deserts and waste places, a majority of the upward 

 of fifty species occurring in the drier areas of northern Africa and southwestern 

 Asia, though a number are found in Europe and other parts of the Palaearctic 

 region, among them the Common Wheatear (S. ccnanthe], which ranges over 

 Europe and northern Asia, reaching even Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, and 

 Alaska; it winters in northern Africa. This species in summer has the upper 

 parts light gray, the forehead and upper tail-coverts white, and the sides of the 

 head black, while the basal two thirds of the tail is white and the under parts 

 whitish or buffy; the female is duller and more buffy. The Wheatear does 

 not perch on trees or bushes, being preeminently a bird of the ground, over which 

 it runs with ease and rapidity. It is found in open and barren, especially stony, 

 localities, such as mountain sides and rocky shores, and is intolerant of the advent 

 of cultivation, disappearing utterly before the plow. During the migrations, 

 which occur in February and March, and in August and September, on the 

 return journey, they often appear in multitudes especially on the south and 

 east coasts of England, but soon hurry to their distant nesting grounds. When 

 they return in the fall, they are often excessively fat, and are then esteemed a great 

 delicacy, many thousands often being netted for food. The Wheatear builds 

 a large flat nest on the ground under a stone or clod of earth, or in walls or 

 stone heaps, depositing from four to seven eggs of a pale greenish blue color 

 and usually unspotted. The call notes are very much like those of the Stone- 

 chat, and its song, which is uttered while on the wing or perched on some slight 

 projecting stone or clod, is described as sweet, though rather short. Although 

 possessing more or less individual interest, the general appearance and habits 

 of the numerous Wheatears are similar to those described above, and we may 

 pass them over. 



Bluebirds. With the exception of a single species perhaps doubtfully 

 referred here (the Himalayan Bluebird, Grandala c&licolor, which occurs in 

 the higher Himalayas), the entire membership in the final subfamily (SialiincE) 

 is confined to the New World, the typical representatives being the Bluebirds 

 (Sialia), which in eight or ten species and subspecies spread over the whole of 

 North America and through Mexico to Guatemala, Honduras, and Bermuda. 

 They have a short, stout, compressed bill, short rictal bristles, and pointed wings 



