22 ISABELLINE WHEATEAR. 
Northern China and the Upper Amur; migrating to Northern 
India, &c. 
The nest is generally placed in burrows ; those of such rodents 
as Lagomys ogotona and Spermophilus eversmanni being utilized on 
the steppes of Daiiria; while near Smyrna the extensive tunnels 
formed by the Asiatic mole-rat (Spalax typhlus) afford a convenient 
retreat. The eggs are pale blue, similar to those of the Common 
Wheatear, but a trifle larger: measurements 82 by 65 in. Breed- 
ing commences in February in Abyssinia ; while by the middle of 
May young are to be found nearly fledged in Asia Minor. Two 
broods are probably reared in the season, as Canon Tristram obtained 
eggs in Palestine in June. Mr. Danford observed this Wheatear 
frequenting barren ground, bushy hillsides, and even fir-woods in 
Asia Minor, where it arrived on March oth; and he describes its 
notes as very peculiar, “the most striking being a cry resembling 
that of a Sandpiper, which is uttered as the bird descends, after its 
hovering flight and lark-like song.” The call-note is 272, 277, 277. 
Adult male: upper parts pale sandy-brown ; a buffish-white streak 
from the base of the bill upwards to the back of the eye; lores 
black ; ear-coverts pale-brown; upper tail-coverts white; the two 
central tail-feathers blackish-brown almost to their bases, which are 
white; the remainder white for the basal third, and blackish- 
brown, narrowly tipped and margined with buff, on the lower 
two-thirds; wings brown, edged with buff, especially on the 
secondaries and coverts; under parts buffish-white, deeper on the 
neck and breast ; wader wing-coverts and axillaries white ; the under- 
side of the guzl/s being also conspicuously faéer than in the Com- 
mon Wheatear. Bill and legs black. Length 6:5 in. ; wing to the 
tip of the third and longest quill, 3-9 in. ; tarsus 1-2 in. Female: 
duller in plumage and slightly smaller than the male. Young: 
streaked with dark brown on the head, neck and breast ; wings and 
tail broadly margined with rufous-buff. In autumn, as with other 
Wheatears, the buff margins to the wing-feathers are very pro- 
nounced. 
The distinguishing characteristics of the Isabelline Wheatear may 
be thus summed up :—it is larger, more tawny, and has more black 
in its comparatively short tail than any Common Wheatear ; the 
colour of the under-wing is much lighter, and the bill and tarsi are 
longer. 
