in two Andalucian Sierras. 477 



adult typical birds in summer, and their under parts are of a 

 much purer white ; their bills are also large, measuring 

 from the nostril to the tip 10, 10, and 11 mm., and from the 

 base to the tip 18, 18, and 19i mm. ; the wings measure 

 91, 95, and 99 mm. These birds are thus somewhat like 

 those described as OS. oe. rostrata Hempr. & Ehr. 



Tlie Common Wheatear has, I believe, never been known 

 to breed in the Peninsula south of the Cantabrian Mountains, 

 and has not before been suspected of breeding in the south 

 of Spain. 



The male mentioned as being in a plumage somewhat 

 resembling that of the autumn is in first summer plumage, 

 very distinct from that of the adult. For full descriptions of 

 the various plumages of the Wheatear, see C. B. Ticehurst, 

 Brit. Birds, iii. pp. 391-3.— /f. F. W.'\ 



*CEnanthe hispanica hispanica (L.). Black-eaied 

 Wheatear. 



The Black-throated and Black-eared Wheatears were 

 plentiful up to 3000 ft. in both Sierras — in Nevada a 

 sprinkling as high even as 7000 £t. ; but their principal 

 habitats were among the lowlands and foothills. Every- 

 where between Jerez and the Sierra Nevada we found 

 the two species {pace Dr. Hartert) remarkably evenly 

 distributed, so that in a day^s walk it was a common thing 

 to see each alternately. Nevertheless, and in spite of 

 always being on the look-out for it, we found no evidence 

 contributing to the consideration of the two forms as di- 

 morphisms of the same species. On the contrary, there 

 seemed no more connection between the two species than 

 between, say, Meadow- and Tree-Pipits or Willow- and 

 Wood-Warblers in the parts of our own country where 

 those species intermingle freely. 



It is also of note that in Estremadura, on the plains 

 round Trujillo, there was a similar alternation of the two 

 species ; but further west, in the hill-country traversed 

 by the River Alagon, there seemed to be only about one 

 Black-cared to ten Black-throated, while in similar country 



