330 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



being specially enhanced in my eyes by the fact that it was shot at 

 the time of Newton and Tristram's visit to me, who were thus 

 enabled to examine the bird in the flesh. 



The summer plumage of the old males of this Chat is composed 

 of black and white, distributed in a remarkable mamier. The sides 

 of the head, the foreneck and sides of the neck, the upper breast, 

 wmgs, and back are deep black ; the crown dowa to the eyes, the 

 back of the neck, rump, breast, and belly, as well as the under tail- 

 coverts, are pure white; the tail-feathers are likewise white with 

 black spots at the tips. Of these spots, those on the outer webs of 

 the outermost pair of feathers extend upwards for 119 in. (30 mm.), 

 while those on the fifth pair do so only for -.59 in. (15 mm.), 

 diminishing gradually from without inwardly in arcuate fashion : 

 in the female the black terminal bands from the second to the fifth 

 feathers have a breadth of only -20 in. (5 mm.), but on the outermost 

 pair they extend upwards to the same extent as in the male. In the 

 wmgs the primaries and secondaries, as well as all the greater and 

 lesser Avmg-coverts are of a uniform deep black. 



The plumage of the female is not, as stated by Dresser, of similar 

 colour to that of the male, but in general resembles the female of 

 *S'. cenanthe ; except that in S. morio the whole under-side of the wing 

 is of a miiform brownish black, lacking the lighter borders of the 

 smaller plumage, and the outer surface of the wing also is of a. 

 uniform brownish black ; the black terminal markings of the tail 

 are shorter, though in the outermost pair of feathers they extend 

 beyond half the length of the outer webs. Further, the coloration 

 of the upper parts of the female of >S'. inorio is more isabelline than in 

 .S'. omanthe, and the former species is moreover considerably smaller 

 than the latter. The measurements of two examples shot here were 

 in the freshly killed specimens as follows : — Total length, 535 ins. 

 (136 mm.); length of wing, 3-34 ins. (85 mm.); length of tail, 

 221 ins. (56 mm.) ; length of tail tmcovered by wings, -67 in. 

 (17 mm.). The bill measures -82 in. (21 mm.), and the tarsus -94 in. 

 (24'Hi«i.). 



In the closely-related species, Saxicola leucomela, the general 

 distribution of the colours is the same as in *S'. morio. In the former 

 species, however, the under tail-coverts are rust - coloured, and 

 almost the whole of the inner webs of the primary and secondary 

 quill-feathers are pure white ; moreover, the black markings of the 

 outermost pair of tail-feathers do not extend further upwards than 

 that of the inner feathers, so far at least as one is able to judge from 

 a beautiful old male collected by Tristram in Palestine. This latter 

 example is also considerably larger than the specimens of S. morio 

 kiUed here, and than the skins from a collection from Cyprus and 



