THE WHEATEAR. 

 Saxicola CEnanthe (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 3. 



The Wheatear, a summer visitor to the British Islands, usually arrives in March, 

 migrating southwards in autumn to spend the winter in the tropical parts of Africa. 

 Abroad during summer, it has a wide range over Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and 

 across Siberia to China. 



The nest, composed rather loosely of dead grasses, mixed sometimes with small 

 roots and moss, and having a lining of hair and feathers, is placed in a hole in a 

 wall, a crevice under a rock, or within a deserted rabbit-burrow. The eggs, varying 

 in number from four to seven, are in colour light greenish-blue, occasionally marked 

 with tiny purple specks. 



Stony hillsides and high grassy uplands are its favourite haunts. In former 

 days it was much sought after as a table delicacy, and vast numbers were trapped, 

 by means of horse-hair nooses, by the shepherds of the South Downs. 



A large race of this species, differing from ours also in its brighter colour, touches 

 our shores on its way to breed in Greenland, and is known as the Greenland 

 Wheatear. 



