NOVITATES ZoOLOfflCAE XXTV. 1017. 461 



quotes only this form as occurring at Mcnakha, Hajeilah, and Sanaa, but when 

 doing so he did not. apparently, consult my book, but judged from the boxes 

 in the British Museum, where four subspecies appear to be mixed up, though 

 there are perhaps no true maiira at all. As I have explained in my book, manra 

 is the bird of the Caucasus and southern Ural. The British Museum specimens 

 collected by Bury from Menakha are all rvbicola, those from Sanaa and Hajeilah 

 are : 



Saxicola torquata indica (Blyth). 

 We have not received this form, nor is there a true manra from Arabia in 

 the British Museum. S. t. rubicola, besides its upper tail-coverts being spotted 

 ■viath black, has the bill stronger than indica, and both differ from mavra in having 

 no white, or only traces of it, at the base of the tail. The upper tail-coverts 

 have never any black spots in indica or maura. 



Cercomela melanura eriangeri Neum. and Zedl. 



Cercomda niFlntnna rrlanrjeri Zedlitz, Joiini. /. Orn. 1912. pp. 497, 556 (South Arabia). 



(J? in terribly worn plumage, Wasil, 4,000 ft., 22, 24. ii. 1913. 



Mr. Sclater, calling this form C. wtdanwm, has obviously overlooked Zedlitz' 

 lucid explanation of the Arabian forms of Cercomela melanura. Temminck 

 figured and named Cercomela melanura (sub. nomine Saxicola melafinra) from a 

 specimen collected by Eiippell in " Arabia,' but Riippell had collected it in 

 '■ Arabia petraea," i.e. the Sinai Peninsula, and not in southern Arabia ! Now 

 the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine are inhabited by a very pale grey form, 

 i.e. C. melanura melanura — synonyms asthenia Bp. and yerburyi Sharpe, — while 

 the form inhabiting southern Arabia must be called C. mekiruira erhmgeri'Neum. 

 an;:! Ze«11. 



Oenanthe yemenensis Grant. 



Oenanihe yetnenensis Ogilvie-Grant, BjiII. B. O. Cbih, xxxi. p. 166 (Menakha, Yemen). 



Of this interesting species we have received a young male, still showing 

 the buff spots of the juvenile plumage on the nape and back, shot at Sanaa 

 11. ix. 1913. and an adult female, Menakha, 25. i. 1913. 



To me this species does not look much like 0. bottae, being so very much 

 paler on the upperside and underside, and having the ear-coverts pale bufi. 

 with only a black streak along their upper edge, while they are mostly black in 

 0. bottae. It resembles O. isabellina, but the forehead and greater part of the 

 crown are deep brown, the breast a little darker and more vinous, but from 

 both isabellina and bottae it is distinguished by the middle pair of pectrices being 

 black to or almost to the base, while the base of those two feathers is white 

 for about IS to 2 cm. The wing of our adult female measures 101 mm. 



Pycnonotus xanthopygos reichenowi Lorenz and Hellm. 



Pycnonutu.s reichenowi Lorenz and Hellmayr. Oni. Monatsher. 1901. p. 30 (S. Arabia). 



Sclater (p. 169) says that he cannot confirm the supposed differences between 

 Palestine (typical xanthopygos) and South Arabian specimens. While I quite 

 agree that the difference in size which Lorenz and Hellmayr mentioned is not 



