| Summary: | <p>Wheatears, genus Oenanthe, are small chat—like thrushes
(family Muscicapidae, sub—family Turdinae). Eighteen species have been
recognised of which four are confined to Africa while the remaining 14
have largely Palaearctic breeding distributions. They are all similar
in size and morphology and some are alike in plumage. Their behaviour
and ecology are also, broadly speaking, similar. They typically inhabit
open, barren plains and hillsides which are often stony and boulderstrewn. They feed chiefly on insects and other small invertebrates
which they catch largely on bare ground, mainly by making rapid pursuits
on foot or by pouncing from elevated watch—posts. Most nest in rock
crevices, under boulders or in holes in the ground. Suitable habitat
is found particularly in the arid zone to which 11 of the 14 Palaearctic
species are largely confined. Some species differ in their altitudinal
ranges, geographical distributions and/Or habitats but the majority
have contiguous or overlapping ranges so that in many areas, particularly
in North Africa and the Middle East, several species occur. Indeed
different species of wheatear have often been reported side by side in
the same habitat. </p>
<p>[abstract continued in thesis]</p>
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