THE DESERT WHEATEAR. 

 Saxicola deserti, Riippell. 

 Plate 3. 



The Desert Wheatear has been obtained six times in the British Islands, the 

 first near Alloa, Clackmannan, on November 26, 1880, the second on the Holder- 

 ness coast, Yorkshire, October 17, 1885, the third near Arbroath, Forfar, December 

 28, 1887, a fourth on the Pentland Skerries, June 2, 1906, while another was shot 

 in Norfolk, October 31, 1907, and the last at Scotney, Kent, on May 21, 1913. 

 The home of this bird lies more to the south than that of the Black-throated 

 and Black-eared Wheatears. It ranges from North Africa southwards and east- 

 wards across the deserts to Abyssinia, and through Asia Minor, Arabia, and Persia 

 as far as Afghanistan and India. It inhabits dry and sandy wastes, and builds 

 its nest in holes and fissures among rocks or underground. The eggs are of a 

 pale bluish-green colour, speckled with reddish-brown. 



The female has no black on the throat, is duller and greyer than the male, has 

 the black portions of the wings brown, and the rump tinged with sand-colour. 



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