NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXIV. 1917. 11 



Britain are as follows : One, a male, obtained at Winchelsea, Sussex, on May 2nd, 

 1907 (J. B. Nichols, British Birds, vol. i. 1907-8, p. 185) * ; one, a male with a 

 black throat, obtamed at Fair Isle, Scotland, on September 25th, 1907 (W. 

 Eagle Clarke, Studies in Bird Migration, vol. ii. p. 145 ; Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History, 1907, p. 246, and ibid. 1908, pp. 72-85; and Witherby, British Birds, 

 vol. i. p. 382) f ; one, a female in winter dress, obtained at St. Kilda, on Septem- 

 ber 21st, 1911 (W. Eagle Clarke, Studies in Bird Migration, vol. ii. p. 217) f ; two 

 males, each with a black throat, obtamed near Winchelsea, Sussex, respectively 

 on May 16th and 19th, 1912 (J. B. Nichols, British Birds, vol. vi. 1912-13, 

 p. 184) § ; one, a male, the colour of throat not mentioned, obtamed at HoUington, 

 Sussex, on May 5th, 1915 (H. W. Ford-Lmdsay, British Birds, vol. ix. 1915-16, 

 p. 121) II ; one, a male with " no frontal band of black," obtained at St. Leonards, 

 Sussex, on October 30th, 1915 (H. Ford-Lindsay, ibid. p. 249)11; one, an adolescent 

 male with a black throat, obtained on Tuskar Rock, co. Wexford, on May 16th, 

 1916 (C. J. Patten, Dublin Daily Express, June 8th, 1916; Irish Times, June 

 9th, 1916 ; Nature, June 15th, 1916, pp. 321, 322 ; Irish Naturalist, June 1916, 

 p. 100) ** ; this, the most recent occurrence, completes the number of British- 

 taken specimens up to date. 



* Described as the Western Black-eared Wheatear {S. caterinae), and recorded as the third 

 obtained in the British Isles ; in reality it was the fifth obtained and sixth recorded. 



t Described as the Black-throated Wheatear {S. occidenkilis) and recorded as the third British 

 and first Scottish example procured. In reality it was the sixth Western Black-eared Wheatear 

 obtained in Great Britain and the seventh recorded, and the first from Scotland. A ready and 

 concisely drawn-up reference to the above seven records is to be found in Dr. Hartert's Hand-list of 

 British Birds, 1912, p. 81. AU these birds have been included under the one name of the Western 

 Black-eared Wheatear {Oenanthe h. hispanica) ; tlie question of there being only one species, dimorphic 

 in the plumage of the throat, having been answered in the affirmative, the name Black-throated 

 was abandoned. The alteration in the nomenclature is the outcome of Dr. Hartert's researches, 

 and is now widely adopted. 



J Here named Black-throated Wheatear {Saxicola hispanica), and recorded as the second 

 specimen obtained in Scotland ; this bird was entered as the Western Black-eared Wheatear 

 {Oen^anthe h. hispanica) in a paper in British Birds, vol. vi. 1912-13, p. 152, by the Editors, entitled 

 " Additional Records from Fair Isle and St. Kilda." This paper appeared subsequent to the publication 

 of Dr. Hartert's Hand-list of British Birds, and as a result his nomenclatural and vernacular names 

 for the species have l^een adopted. It is interesting to note that Mr. Eagle Glarlie while still adhering 

 to the older name of Black-throated Wheatear had already adopted the same specific name of 

 hispanica as did Dr. Hartert instead of occidentalis. This bird represents the seventh Western Black- 

 eared Wheatear obtained, and the eighth recorded in Great Britain, and the second obtained in 

 Scotland. 



§ Both named the Black-throated form of the Western Black-eared Wheatear, of which form 

 only four previous captures had been made in Great Britain. This statement is correct. However, 

 proceeding with statistics regarding both forms we find these two birds to be the eighth and ninth 

 obtained, and the ninth and tenth recorded in Great Britain. 



II The title of the note here is " Western Black-eared AVheatear in Sussex," but in the text 

 Mr. Ford-Lindsay speaks of the bird as the Black-throated Wheatear ; hence I presume it is s 

 Black-throated form and have entered it as such in the synoptical tables (A) and (C). It represents 

 the tenth specimen obtained and the eleventh recorded in the British Isles of the Western Black- 

 eared Wheatear. 



^ Designated Western Black-throated Wheatear, yet while this older vernacular name is used, 

 the most modern trinomial nomenclatural term, viz. Oenanthe h. hispanica, is applied. This biid 

 is the eleventh obtained and the twelfth recorded in the British Isles of the Western Black-eared 

 Wlieatear. 



** Called Black-eared Wheatear [Oenanthe hispanica), the racial form being undetermined 

 when these preUminary notes were sent to press. In the Dublin daily papers above mentioned, I 

 did not insert the scientific names. This bird is the twelftli obtained and the thirteenth 

 recorded in the British Isles, and the first obtained in Ireland, of the Western Black-eared 

 Wheatear. 



