AF£S. 35 



15. Saxicola Icucomela. Pallas. Nov. Com. Petr., xiv., p. 5S4. 

 Eastern Pied Chat. ( = ■5'. morio. Hemp, and Ehr. Symb. Phys., fol. aa.) 



The Eastern Pied Chat is rare in Palestine, and as yet has only been 

 found in the north, where the Pied Chat does not seem to occur. It 

 breeds in the neighbourhood of Beyrout. 



The range of the Eastern Pied Chat very slightly overlaps that of its 

 congener. Eastward it e.xtends through Cyprus, the Caucasus, Persia, 

 North India, Wongolia, to North-West China. Westward it reaches in 

 winter as far as Abyssinia. 



16. SaxicoLi monacha. Temm. PL Col., pi. 359, fig. 1. Hooded Chat. 



The Hooded Chat is very limited in its range, and within that range is 

 represented by very few individuals. It is to be found sparsely scattered 

 over the salt hills and wastes at the south of the Dead Sea and the Arabah. 

 Among the marl hills between Sebbeh and Jebel Usdum its presence is 

 the only sign of life to be seen. 



It has been taken in Egypt, Nubia, and the .Sinaitic Peninsula, always 

 in desolate districts ; and eastward it is found in Baluchistan, but not in 

 Scinde. This species is the most graceful and elegant of all the Chats. 

 It is indeed the sylph of the family. 



17. Saxicola laicopyga. Brehm. Vogelfang, p. 225. White-rumped 

 Chat. 



The White-rumped Chat, which has often been separated into two 

 species, from the fact of its not acquiring the white head until its second 

 moult, is found in Palestine only on the higher rocky ground of the 

 ravines and wilderness on either side of the Dead Sea, where it is a con- 

 stant resident. 



The White-rumped Chat is found in the Algerian Sahara, Nubia, and 

 Arabia. It is stated to have occurred at Sierra Leone, and probably 

 ranges to the southern fringe of the Sahara. 



18. Ccrconicla vielamira. Temm. PI. Col. No. 257, fig. 2, Black 

 Start. 



The Black Start is one of the most striking and characteristic birds of 

 the bare ravines opening on to the Dead Sea and Jordan valley. Beyond 



5—2 



