. A history of British birds. Birds. THE WHEATEAR. 303 Tlie fact that there are two races of Wheatears has frequently been noticed. Some weeks after the arrival of the typical birds a larger and buffer race is reported to arrive on our shores^, and to pass northwards on migration. Some ornithologists think tliat the later arrivals are the young of the previous year^ which retain more of their autumn plumage in the spring than older birds do; whilst it has been suggested that they are the Wheatears which breed in Greeulandj passing through on migration via the Shetland Islands and Iceland, and
. A history of British birds. Birds. THE WHEATEAR. 303 Tlie fact that there are two races of Wheatears has frequently been noticed. Some weeks after the arrival of the typical birds a larger and buffer race is reported to arrive on our shores^, and to pass northwards on migration. Some ornithologists think tliat the later arrivals are the young of the previous year^ which retain more of their autumn plumage in the spring than older birds do; whilst it has been suggested that they are the Wheatears which breed in Greeulandj passing through on migration via the Shetland Islands and Iceland, and which are somev^hat larger and buffer than our birds, and almost constitute a distinct local race. The Wheatear has no very near ally; and the male is not likely to be confused with any other species of Chat. The female may be distinguished from )S. isabellhia and the female of S. deserti by having less black on the tail. The black on the terminal portion of the tail-feathers (except the two centre ones) occupies less than one third of the length of the feather in .S'. cenanthe, whilst in the other two species it occupies more than one Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Seebohm, Henry, 1832-1895. London, Pub. for the author by R. H. Porter [etc. ]
Size: 1475px × 1695px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883