BIEDS. 



221 



Saxicola. The middle toe and claw are contained one and one- third times in tarsus; spurious 

 primary two-fifths of first primary ; second primary longest ; third and fourth quills are a trifle 

 shorter; tail slightly rounded. 



Specific characters. — Adult male. Heligoland, May, 1878. Back brown ; feathers grayish at 

 edges and darker anteriorly, especially on the crown, where the dark centers become nearly black ; 

 wings of a darker shade of brown than the back; two middle tail-feathers dark brown, the basal 

 half of the remaining tail-feathers rusty-red, with their distal portion blackish-brown; the distribu- 

 tion of color on the tail is very similar to the pattern on the tail of the common Eedstart or in 

 Saxicola. The chin, throat, and the upper breast are bright blue, inclosing a large rusty-red 

 patch on the lower part of the throat; bordering the blue below is a crescentic band of black, suc- 

 ceeded by a band of rusty -red paler than the throat-patch; each of the feathers on the breast 

 is edged with white ; the remainder of the under surface is a dingy white ; the under wing-coverts 

 are a pale buff; the lores are black, and there is a faint supraloral and ocular line of white. Bill, 

 feet, and legs dark horn-color. 



Adult female {Heligoland, May, 1878). — Upper surface almost precisely like that of the male, 

 including the tail and wings ; chin and throat white, tinged with pale buff, and this area is bordered 

 by a narrow band of black- tipped feathers ; this band is followed by a broader one of dark brown, 

 each feather narrowly white-edged. Below this the feathers are faintly dark-tipped, succeeded by 

 dingy- white on the remainder of the lower surface, except on the flanks, where a brown or a brown- 

 ish yellow shade is present. The supraorbital stripe is much more marked than in the male. The 

 lores and ear-coverts are dark with a shade of brownish-yellow on the latter. Specimens in fall 

 plumage exhibit the same pattern of coloration, but the colors are very much paler, especially on 

 the throat of the male. There is a strong wash of buff on the sides of the head, including the 

 cheeks, loral and supraocular stripe. The flanks and lower tail-coverts are heavily washed with 

 the same. 



The dimensions of the two birds just described are as follows: 



Saxicola cbnanthb (Linn.). Wheatear. 



During the Western Union Telegraph Expedition Mr. Dall saw several large flocks of these 

 birds near Ifulato, on May 23 and 24, 1868, and learned from the natives of their abundance upon 

 the stony hill-tops back from the river. This was the first record of the Wheatear from Northwest 

 America, but since this time It has been obtained by several collectors. At Saint Michaels, Nor- 

 ton Sound, I found them to occur in spring and fall rather irregularly. They were not very rare, 

 and the natives informed me that they were common upon the bare mountain tops in the interior, 

 frequenting the summer range of the reindeer. Several specimens secured by me were found 

 about the houses, where they were searching for food. They were never shy, but when pursued 

 skulked among the stones and pieces of drift-wood for protection, and crept in and out among the 

 crevices so quickly that it was with considerable difficulty they could be dislodged and killed. My 

 spring specimens were obtained on the 26th and 28th of May, and in autumn from the 20th to the 

 25th of August. The Wheatear was also found at Port Clarence, in Bering Straits, at the head of 

 Kotzebue Sound, at Cape Lisburne by Dr. Bean, and at Point Barrow by Mr. Murdoch. In the spring 

 of 1882 they were rather common at the latter place, the first one arriving on May 19, when the ground 

 was still covered with snow, except in a few places. They remained only a few days and passed on 

 to the northeast, and were not seen again by Mr. Murdoch, whose observations confirm the curiously 

 irregular distribution of this bird in Alaska on different seasons. Thus, in 1880, they were not 

 uncommon on the coast from Kotzebue Sound to Cape Lisburne. In 1881 1 visited the same district 

 without finding a single individual. In the spring of 1882 they were noted at Point Barrow, and 

 again failed to appear the season of 1883. The specimens secured by Mr. Dall were transmitted 



