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MISCELLANEA ORNITHOLOGICA : 



CRITICAL, NOMENCLATOHIAL, AND OTHER NOTES, MOSTLY ON 

 PALAEARCTIC BIRDS AND THEIR ALLIES. 



By ERNST HARTERT, Ph.D. 



Pat!T VL* 



(Plate VII.) 



The Genus SAXICOLA. 



ONE of the most iaterestiug genera of Oscines is the genus Saxicola. With 

 regard to the limits of tlie latter I maj' only say that 1, on the whole, fully 

 agree with Seebohm, who very wisely limited it in Vol. V. of the Catalocfue of 

 Birds. It is quite impossible to separate the so-called " Dromolaea,^' as both in 

 structure and biology that supposed genus does not stand well circumscribed, but is 

 connected with so-called true Saxieola by intermediate forms. 



A very peculiar character, like a landmark or label, is the white— or in a few 

 cases bright rufous — rump, which is peculiar to all palaearctic species. The sexes 

 are mostly different, but in some species alike. 



With regard to the species and subspecies I should like to make the following 

 remarks. 



Saxicola oeuauthe. 



Of all the species of the genus Saxicola this has beeu the most puzzling one to 

 me I do not think that any geographical forms can be separated on the European 

 continent, nor do I believe that the British form is separable. In the East, however, 

 things are different, for we find in winter, in N.E. and E. Africa, many specimens 

 with very Iouli: bills — onlmen to very nearly 20 mm. — and long-billed are the 

 examples breeding in Syria. These forms have also very light edges to the upper 

 wing-coverts and quills. It is therefore quite logical to separate them as S. oenanthe 

 rostmta, for rof^tratn is the name given to long-billed specimens from Upper Egypt, 

 North Arabia, and Syria by Hemprich & Ehrenberg. Unfortunately, however, the 

 distribution of this form is not yet well known, and specimens from Greece, Egypt, 

 and occasionally such from Turkestan, have rather long bills, and those from Sardinia 

 sometimes reach, in the length of their beaks, true rostrata^ while others from the 

 same island have short bills. 



Another ill-defined and little understood form is S. oenanthe argentea Lonnberg. 

 It was described from a few specimens from south of Lake Baikal (Bura, Kjacbta, 

 Kiran). Although, in my opinion, the author hardly had sufficient material to 

 name this form, it cannot be denied that a rather liglit back, wide white forehead, 

 and light edges to (lie wings are more or loss peculiar to many adult males from 

 (Jentral Asia, viz. Turkestan and Transcaspia, and that therefore the name argentea 

 cannot be treated as a synonym. 



• For I'ait I. see .V'or. Zool. 1904. pp. 45G-GO; for Part II., i\ov. Zoul 1905, pp. 497-503; r.irt III., 

 Nov. Zool. 190G. pp. 386-405 ; Pari. IV., ffoi: Zool. 1907. pp. 335-9 ; Part V., Nov. Zool. 1908. pp. 395-U. 



