CHATS. 479 



in carrying up hay to a large, deep box, nailed against the wall near to the 

 ceiling, and on the surface of this she formed a saucer-shaped depression, in 

 which shortly afterwards she laid three eggs ; while sitting she was fed by 

 the cock-bird, but whenever he gave her an insect she invariably left the nest 

 to eat it. In thirteen days the eggs hatched, and two days later two of the 

 young birds were carried out dead; the third bird was safely reared, and 

 moulted into his adult plumage towards the end of August. The young bird left 

 the nest when twenty-three days old. I had been led to suppose that he would 

 resemble the hen ; but, in addition to his greatly inferior size and spotted breast, 

 he was altogether of a far more cinereous tint. In about eight or ten days he was 

 perfectly able to feed himself." These bluebirds preferred to feed their young 

 upon insects, which they invariably swallowed and disgorged several times before 

 carrying them to the young. The adult male has the head and upper-parts 

 deep azure -blue ; the throat, breast, and sides of the body chestnut : and the 

 lower-parts white ; while the female is blue, mixed and obscured with reddish 

 brown. 



Occupying an intermediate position between the robins and the 

 true thrushes, the chats (Saxicola) form a second subfamily char- 

 acterised by possessing a strong bill and well-developed rictal bristles ; the 

 wing is pointed and equal to the tail, and the metatarsus and foot are adapted 

 to their desert-loving habits. Resembling the fly-catchers in the mode of taking 

 their insect-prey, the chats differ from other small birds by their frequent vibra- 

 tion of the tail when perching and running. They are most strongly represented 

 on the African continent, five species inhabiting North Africa, while six are 

 peculiar to the south of the Ethiopian region, and five others inhabit Abyssinia 

 and Nubia. Eight belong to the European avifauna, while four species breed 

 only in Persia, and another four in Turkestan. The wheatear, which may be 

 considered the best known form of the genus, has a straight bill, broadest at the 

 base and slightly curved towards the extremity ; the legs and bill being black, 

 and the metatarsus not scutellated. The bastard-primary feather is small, and 

 the wings are comparatively flat and pointed. In all the more typical species, 

 the rump, upper tail-coverts, and the base of the tail are pure white in both sexes : 

 the tail consisting of twelve feathers of nearly equal length. The russet chat 

 (Saxicola melanoleuca) breeds in Italy, Greece, South Russia, and Palestine ; the 

 western form summering in Morocco, Algiers, Spain, and the south of France. 

 The isabelline chat (S. isabellina) breeds in Asia Minor, South Russia, and Siberia. 

 and has been obtained in Madagascar: while the Indian desert-chat (S. deserti) 

 passes the summer in the cultivated districts of Turkestan, wintering in North- 

 West and Central India. 



_ One of the earliest of the many migrants that traverse the 



Wheatear. . 



length and breadth of Europe during their annual migrations is the 

 common wheatear (S. osnanthe), so well known in most parts of the British Isles. 

 Arriving in March and April, the wheatear is both a moorland and maritime 

 species. Many may be seen on a Scotch grouse-moor or any sheep-farm in the 

 north of England ; and some remain very late in the ploughed fields of the midland 

 counties. Numberless pairs spend the summer months playing about the rabbit- 



