IS 



MOTACILLA CENANTHE. 



Syit. Nat. 332. 



THE WHEAT-EAR, OR FALLOW-SMICH. 



PLATE LXXV. 



JL he bill, eyes, and inside of the mouth, are black ; 

 the brow, just above the bill, white ; which white is 

 extendied in a line over the eyes, and terminates above 

 the ears. A line of black takes its rise at the base of 

 the bill, in which the eyes are placed ; and it spreads 

 backward and covers the ears. The top of the 

 head and the back are of a grayish lead-colour ; the 

 rump, a pure white. The tail consists of twelve feath- 

 ers ; the two middlemost are black, except about half 

 an inch of white at their bottoms ; all the rest 

 are white, with black dps. The throat, sides of the 

 neck, and upper part of the breast, are of a very pale 

 brown : and in the male birds, when they first arrive 

 here, there is a pretty blush of crimson over the brown, 

 which fades in the course of the summer. The win^s 

 are black ; the legs and feet, long, slender, and black. 

 In the female, the white line over the bill and eyes is 

 wanting ; the black line, in which the eyes are placed, 

 is narrow, and not extended over the ears ; the head 

 and back are dusky brown, and the wings of a bistre 

 colour. The cock, in breeding time, has a pleasing 

 soft song. The Wheat-ear inhabits fields surrounded 

 with stone-wallsj on which it sits, seldom alighting on 

 trees. 



