THE EASTERN PIED WHEATEAR. 



Saxicola pleschanka (Lepech). 

 Plate 3. 



A female of this species was taken on the Isle of May on 19th October 

 1909. Mr. Dresser, in his Manual of Palcearctic Birds, p. 32, gives its habitat 

 as " Cyprus, the Crimea and the lower valley of the Volga, east to Kashmir, south- 

 eastern Siberia, Tibet, Mongolia, and northern China, wintering in N.W. India, 

 Abyssinia, and Arabia, and occasionally in Gilgit." 



It appears to be more inclined to perch on trees and bushes than the other 

 Wheatears, and builds its nest in holes and crannies among rocks and stones. The 

 eggs are a delicate blue in colour, sometimes, but not always, marked with small 

 reddish spots. 



Lord Lilford, in his list of the birds of Cyprus {Ibis, July 1889), says : 

 " This is the characteristic Chat of Cyprus ; so far as my observation goes it 

 mostly frequents the neighbourhood of towns, and is especially common near 

 Larnaca." 



The female is dull brown on the upper parts. 



I. 



17 



c 



