346 CERTHTTDiE. 



tho black stripe from the nasal and loral region passing throngh the 

 eye and along the sides of the neck rather broad ; quills light brown, 

 tiaeir external web and the innermost secondaries and the wing- 

 ooverts more like the back ; tail-feathers like back, outer pairs with 

 slight fulvous terminal edgings ; throat, sides of head and neck, and 

 upper breast white ; rest of underparts, including tho thighs and the 

 whole of the under tail-coverts, rusty ochraceous ; under wing-coverts 

 black. All the other parts are coloured as in 8. europcea. 



Female and young. Paler in general coloration ; underparts less 

 white, more tinged with pale cream-colour ; rest of underparts 

 creamy isabclline ; "bill blackish, except below near the base, 

 where it is pale grey, almost white ; legs horny grey ; soles pale 

 and slightly yellowish "' (Blanford). 



S . Taurus. Culmen 0-9 inch, wing 2-9, tail 1-75, tarsus 0-9. 



$. Taurus. „ 0-86, „ 3-0, „ 1-9, „ 0-9. 



Hah. The whole of the Balkan peninsula, through Asia Minor 

 (Cilician mountains), and through the northern half of Persia, 

 where its range seems to end. 



a. S ad. sk. Taiu-us, Jan. 15, 1876 (C. F. D. Godman and O. Sal- 



G. Danford). vin, Esqrs. [P.]. 



h. 2 ad. sk. Tamaular" Dagh, Nov. 25, F. D. Godman and 0. Sal- 



1875 (C. G. Danford). vin, Esqrs. [P.]. 



c. 2 ad. sk. Elburz Mountains, 6000 ft., W. T. Blanford, Esq. [C.]. 



Aug. 16, 1872. (Type of -S". rupicola.) 



d. Ad. sk. S.E. Em-ope. Gould Collection. 



5. Sitta syriaca. 



Sitta syriaca, Elirenb. in Temm. Man. dJOni. iii. p. 286 (1835) ; 



Grai/, Gen. B. i. p. 147 ; Reichenh. Handb., Scans, p. 150, pi. 511. figs. 



3649-50 ; LicM. Nomend. p. 65 ; ? v. Mailer, J. f. O. 1856, p. 221 



(South France ?) ; Horsf. ^ Moore, Cat. B. Mus. F.I. Co. p. 721 ; 



Tridram, Ibis, 1859, p. 28 ; Sclat. Ibis, 1865, p. 308 ; Gray, Hand-l. 



B. i. p. 181, no. 2485 ; Severtz. J.f. 0. 1873, pp. 345, 387; id. Turk. 



Jevotn. p. 66. 

 Sitta syriaca, Ehrb. pt., B}). C. A. i. p. 227 (1850). 

 Sitta neuraayeri, Dress. Ibis, 1876, p. 176, 

 Sitta tephrouota, Sharpe, Ann. ^ Mar/. Nat. Hist. 1872, p. 450 ; 



Dresser, B. Fur. iii. p. 176, note. 



General colour above paler than in S. neumayeri; throat and 

 sides of neck white with a creamy tinge ; the black stripe along the 

 sides of the head and neck seems rather broader than in S. neumayeri ; 

 in the colour of all the other parts the Syrian Nuthatch agrees with 

 the other fn-m, from which it chiefly differs by its much larger size. 

 Total length about 6 inches. 



Oulmen. Wing. Tail. Tarsus, 

 in. in. in. in. 



S . Syria 1-1 3-75 2-25 1-1 



Bolan Pass 1-05 3-25 2-0 0-95 



S . Shiraz 1-55 3-45 2-1 1'15 



2 . Candahar PO 3-35 2-05 0-95 



2 . Kashgar POl 3-25 1-95 0-97 



Central Asia 1'05 3-5 2-25 1-0 



