15 
SYLVIA OEnanthe. 
The Wheat-Ear , or White-Rump . 
S. (Enantlie . Head and back bluish grey, cheeks black, over the 
eyes a dirty white stripe, breast and belly light rust-colour, 
rump and base of the tail white. 
Silvia CEnanthe. Turt. Brit . Faun. v. 1 . p. 46. 
Saxicola (Enanthe. Beckstein . Temm. man. d’orn, v. 1 . Linn, 
trans. v. 15. p. 20. 
Bill black. Iris hazel ; from the bill a black stripe, forming a 
black patch round the eyes. Front dirty white. Wings and 
coverts dusky, with reddish brown edges. Breast with a reddish 
tinge, under the tail white. Tail often moving up and down. 
Two middle tail-feathers white w ith a black base, the rest white 
tipt with black. Legs blackish. 
Length about six inches ; extent near twelve ; weight near seven 
drachms. Turt . loc. cit . 
A very lively and interesting species, which arrives 
in this country in March, and generally leaves it in 
September or October, though sometimes they stay till 
the middle of November; I observed a pair on the 
17th of November last, near the gravel-pit in Hyde- 
Park, which were quite lively, and flying about after 
the insects, as brisk as if it had been the middle of 
Summer; from their appearance I should suppose 
they had been about there for some time, as they were 
not at all shy, but would allow me to come within 
three yards of them, so that they might have been 
easily caught in a trap, if I had wished for them ; but 
being previously in possession of a pair, I did not trou- 
ble myself about them. 
In a wild state, these birds are chiefly to be found 
on hills or commons, and very frequently in parks and 
rabbit-warrens ; in some counties they are so plentiful 
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