CHATS. 
479 
in carrying up hay to a large, deep box, nailed against the wall near to the 
ceiling, and on the surface of this she formed a saucer-shaped depression, in 
which shortly afterwards she laid three eggs; while sitting she was fed by 
the cock-bird, but whenever he gave her an insect she invariably left the nest 
to eat it. In thirteen days the eggs hatched, and two days later two of the 
young birds were carried out dead; the third bird was safely reared, and 
moulted into his adult plumage towards the end of August. The young bird left 
the nest when twenty-three days old. I had been led to suppose that he would 
resemble the hen; but, in addition to his greatly inferior size and spotted breast, 
he was altogether of a far more cinereous tint. In about eight or ten days he was 
perfectly able to feed himself.” These bluebirds preferred to feed their young 
upon insects, which they invariably swallowed and disgorged several times before 
carrying them to the young. The adult male has the head and upper-parts 
deep azure-blue; the throat, breast, and sides of the body chestnut; and the 
lower-parts white; while the female is blue, mixed and obscured with reddish 
brown. 
True Chats. 
Occupying an intermediate position between the robins and the 
true thrushes, the chats ( Saxicola ) form a second subfamily char¬ 
acterised by possessing a strong bill and well-developed rictal bristles; the 
wing is pointed and equal to the tail, and the metatarsus and foot are adapted 
to their desert-loving habits. Resembling the fly-catchers in the mode of taking 
their insect-prey, the chats differ from other small birds by their frequent vibra¬ 
tion of the tail when perching and running. They are most strongly represented 
on the African continent, five species inhabiting North Africa, while six are 
peculiar to the south of the Ethiopian region, and five others inhabit Abyssinia 
and Nubia. Eight belong to the European avifauna, while four species breed 
only in Persia, and another four in Turkestan. The wheatear, which may be 
considered the best known form of the genus, has a straight bill, broadest at the 
base and slightly curved towards the extremity; the legs and bill being black, 
and the metatarsus not scutellated. The bastard-primary feather is small, and 
the wings are comparatively flat and pointed. In all the more typical species, 
the rump, upper tail-coverts, and the base of the tail are pure white in both sexes; 
the tail consisting of twelve feathers of nearly equal length. The russet chat 
(Saxicola melanoleuca) breeds in Italy, Greece, South Russia, and Palestine; the 
western form summering in Morocco, Algiers, Spain, and the south of France. 
The isabelline chat (S. isabellina ) breeds in Asia Minor, South Russia, and Siberia, 
and has been obtained in Madagascar; while the Indian desert-chat (S. deserti ) 
passes the summer in the cultivated districts of Turkestan, wintering in North- 
West and Central India. 
One of the earliest of the many migrants that traverse the 
Wheatear. ] PT1 g|p anc [ breadth of Europe during their annual migrations is the 
common wheatear (S. oenanthe), so well known in most parts of the British Isles. 
Arriving in March and April, the wheatear is both a moorland and maritime 
species. Many may be seen on a Scotch grouse-moor or any sheep-farm in the 
north of England; and some remain very late in the ploughed fields of the midland 
counties. Numberless pairs spend the summer months playing about the rabbit- 
