Adult male.—Most of the plumage glossy black; inner series of secondary-coverts white, forming a conspicuous patch; rump, upper tail-coverts, and crissum pure white; some feathers of flanks, lower abdomen, and thighs tipped with white; extreme bases of outer rectrices white. Bill, legs, and nails black. Length, about 130 mm. Wing, 68; tail, 50; culmen from base, 14; bill from nostril, 9; tarsus, 20. In winter the male has many feathers of head, back, breast, abdomen, and sides of body fringed with buff.

Adult female.—In fresh plumage (April); upper parts ashy gray with dark brown centers to the feathers; rump and tail-coverts rusty buff; lower parts brown; feathers of chin edged with pale whitish buff; crissum pale whitish buff; remainder of under parts ocherous brown, the feathers with darker centers; feathers of wing dark brown with lighter margins; rectrices blackish brown. In worn plumage (September) the upper parts, except uropygium, become seal-brown; wing-feathers similar from the wearing away of the light margins; under parts darker than in the fresh plumage. A female measures: Wing, 64; tail, 50; culmen from base, 13; bill from nostril, 7.5; tarsus, 20.

Young.—A young male (May) resembles the female in worn plumage, but the under parts are richer and more mottled; chin and throat buff with blackish edges to feathers; breast and abdomen rusty ocherous, the feathers of breast fringed with dull black; head, neck, and back smoky black, most of the feathers marked with small buff spots; secondaries, alula, and secondary-coverts broadly edged with rusty ocherous; edging of alula-feathers lighter; bases of inner greater coverts pure white.

Genus SAXICOLA Bechstein, 1802.

Bill slender; rictal bristles weak, the longest less than bill from nostril; wing long, flat, and pointed; first primary short and slender, less than one-third of second; tail rounded, extending very little beyond the folded wings.

547. SAXICOLA ŒNANTHE (Linnæus).
WHEATEAR.

Calayan (McGregor). Europe and northern Asia to Alaska; in winter to the Indian Peninsula and eastern Africa.

“Adult male in breeding plumage.—General color of the upper parts pale slate-gray; forehead and eye-stripe, which extends to the nape, white; lores and upper part of the ear-coverts black; wings and wing-coverts nearly black, a few traces of the autumnal buff margins to the feathers generally left; rump and upper tail-coverts white; tail white except the terminal three-fifths of the two center feathers, and the terminal fourths of the others, which are nearly black; under parts very pale buff, slightly darker on the throat and breast; axillars and under wing-coverts white with dark centers; inner margin of quills brown. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black. Wing with the third and fourth primaries nearly equal and longest; second primary sometimes as long as the fourth; bastard primary, 19 to 14 mm. Wing, 106.6 to 89; (females, 94 to 87.6); tail 62 to 51; culmen, 18 to 16; tarsus, 30 to 27.