194 



8 



up and down, you find only Saxicola isabellina. I did not meet with this bird in Greece, as we 

 spent most of our time in the mountains ; but Dr. Kriiper assured me that it was occasionally 

 found there. I found it common on the grassy banks of the Nymph, east of Smyrna, where its 

 habits seemed exactly to resemble those of Saxicola cenanthe. It breeds in similar situations. 

 1 have a sitting of five eggs which Dr. Kriiper took on the 1 7th of April. He took me to see 

 the nest, which was built in an old mouse- or rat-hole, close to the river side. It was, as might 

 be expected, a somewhat loose and carelessly constructed nest, composed almost entirely of 

 sheep's wool, with a feather or two, and a little dry grass. It is a migratory bird in this district ; 

 and Dr. Kriiper told me that he first saw it on the 25th of March, Saxicola cenanthe having 

 arrived a fortnight earlier, and having gone up into the mountains to breed, at an elevation of 

 perhaps 4000 feet above its oriental congener, which it otherwise so closely resembles in its 

 habits. The eggs are a trifle larger in size, and slightly paler in colour, than a sitting of the 

 eggs of Saxicola cenanthe which I obtained in the Parnassus in the following year ; but the eggs 

 of all the Saxicola? vary in size and depth of colour, and I have British specimens of the eggs of 

 S. cenanthe from which they could not be distinguished. They are without any spots; but 

 Dr. Kriiper informed me that he had taken eggs of S. isabellina in previous years with faint 

 .spots round the larger end." 



The present species is common in Southern Germany, where, however, it does not breed in 

 all parts ; and Mr. E. Seidensacher told me that he only observed it in Styria during migration. 

 In Turkey it appears to be common; and in Southern Russia it is said by Von Nordmann to be 

 numerous in the steppes, but unknown in Ghouriel ; and Mr. von Goebel records it (J. f. O. 

 1S70, p. 44G) as common in the Uman district in Southern Russia during the summer. It occurs 

 in Asia Minor, and, according to Dr. Kriiper, breeds near Smyrna. Canon Tristram never 

 observed it in Palestine during the winter, but says that numbers arrived in March, and after a 

 few days' sojourn passed on northwards ; Mr. Wyatt met with it in the peninsula of Sinai, in the 

 spring, and remarks that the females arrived a few days before the male birds. In North-eastern 

 Africa it is common, being, according to Captain Shelley, numerous in Egypt and Nubia during 

 the seasons of migration. Mr. Blanford observed it about Senafe and Adigrat, in Abyssinia, in 

 March ; Petherick obtained it at Kordofan ; and Dr. A. E. Brehm records it from Khartoum. 

 Mr. Chambers-Hodgetts obtained it in Tripoli ; Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake speaks of it as being 

 not rare during passage in Tangier and Eastern Morocco ; and it is said by Loche to breed in 

 Algeria, which statement receives confirmation from the fact that Mr. Salvin (Ibis, 1859, p. 306) 

 shot one near Zana in June. Mr. Verreaux has obtained it from Senegal ; and it has occurred on 

 the Gambia. On the Canaries, according to Dr. C. Bolle (J. f. O. 1857, p. 279), it appears in 

 large numbers some winters ; and Mr. F. DuCane Godman says (Nat. Hist, of the Azores, p. 25), 

 " 1 shot a single example of the Wheatear in Flores, after a strong gale of wind, and I at 

 first believed it was a straggler from the continent ; but I afterwards found four or five pairs in 

 the old crater on Corvo, which had bred there, as I saw young birds that could scarcely fly. The 

 inhabitants have no name for this bird, and I did not meet with any one who knew it; so I 

 believe it to be a recent settler." 



To the eastward the present species ranges right across Siberia to Northern China. Messrs. 

 Dickson and Ross met with it at Erzeroom ; Mr. Keith E. Abbott obtained it at Trebizond ; and 



