384 turdid.t:, 



brown, margined with buff ; basal lialf of two cciitrtil tail-feathers 

 white, tenninal halt' black ; remainder of tail-feathers with ratlier 

 more than the basal half white ; iinderparts below the throat pale 

 buif, richest on the chest and palest on tlie under tail-coverta ; 

 axillaries and under wing-coverts black, with white tips ; inner 

 margin of quills white. Bill, legs, feet, and claws black. Wings 

 with the third and fourth primaries nearly equal and longest, second 

 primary intermediate in length between the Hfth and sixth, bastard 

 primary O-'io to U-05 inch. Length of wing 3-9 to 3-6 inches 

 (females 35 to 3*3), tail 2-55 to 2-35, culmen 0-65 to O-O, tarsus 

 1-1 to 1-0. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. The black on the lores, the 

 feathers behind the eye, the ear-coverts, the sides of the neck, the 

 cheeks, the chin, and the throat is replaced by buff, the nearly 

 black wings and wing-coverts by brown, the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts are more suffused with buff, and the black on the tail is 

 replaced by dark brown. I can find no satisfactory evidence that any 

 important change in the coloration takes place by the autumn moult. 

 J\lales of the year have the black feathers on the throat and wings 

 narrowly margined with buff. Females of the year scarcely differ 

 from adults. Young in first plumage have pale centres to the 

 feathers of both the upper and under parts, except to those of the 

 rump and belly. The quills and tail-feathers are tipped with buff. 



Females of this species much resemble >S. isabclHna, but maj' at 

 once be distinguished by their smaller feet. 



The Desert-Chat is a resident of the arid plains of the Algerian 

 Sahara, Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Arabia, and the highlands of 

 Southern Persia. A few wander into Abyssinia in winter. East- 

 wards it breeds in the plains of Turkestan and winters in Balu- 

 chistan, Scinde, and the North--west Provinces of India. 



E. B. Sharpe, Esq. 

 L. Eraser, Esq. [C.]. 

 Dr. Leith Adams [P.]. 

 R. B. Sharpe, Esq. 

 W. T. Blanford, Esq. 



W. T. Blanford, Esq. 



Canon Tristram [C.]. 



Col. St. John [Cr]. 



India Museum. 



India Museum. 



Oapt. Stackhouse Pinwill 



[P.]. 

 B. H. Hodgson, Esq. [P.]. 

 India Museum. 

 R. B. Sharpe, Esq. 



18. Saxicola montana. 



Saxicola montana, Goidd, B. Asia, pt. xvii. (1865) ; Gray, Hand-l 

 B. i. p. 225. no. 3224 (18C9). 



