SAXICOLA. 71 



the white feathers of the crown. These variations are no doubt 

 puzzling, but their cause will probably be solved hereafter without 

 having recourse to the theory of interbreeding, which in this 

 instance is singularly inapplicable, since the breeding-areas of the 

 two species are totally distinct one from the other. One point is 

 quite clear from the immense series of these Chats in the National 

 Collection : the white or the black crown, or the intermixture of 

 black and white, is not due to age. 



618. Saxicola picata. The Pied Cfliat. 



Saxicola picata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 131 (1847) ; id. Cat. p. 167; 



Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 287 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 131 ; Blanf. § 



Dresser, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 227 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 475 ; id. Cat. 



no. 489 ; Seebohm. Cat. B. M. v, p. 367 ; Barnes, S. F. ix, p. 217 ; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 56; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 441 ; Biddulph, 



Ibis, 1882, p. 236 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 202 ; Oates in Humes 



N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 52. 

 Dromoloea picata (Blyth), Hume, S. F. i, p. 184 ; Ball, S. F. iii, 



p. 206. 



The Pied Stone- Chat, Jerd. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head and neck all round, back, 

 scapulars and wings, under wing-coverts and axillaries deep black : 

 remainder of lower plumage with the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white ; tail white, except the terminal half of the middle pair of 

 feathers and a broad band at the tip of the others, which are 

 black. There is hardly any difference between the summer and 

 winter plumages. 



Female. Upper plumage brown; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white ; tail as in male, but black replaced by brown ; wings brown, 

 all the feathers broadly edged with rufous ; chin, throat, and breast 

 dark ochraceous brown ; remainder of the lower parts very pale 

 buff or pinkish white. 



The young resemble the female but are mottled below, and the 

 crown is always of the same colour as the back. 



A few adult males have sometimes a small amount of white on 

 the crown or over the ear-coverts, and occasionally in birds about 

 to moult neai'ly the whole crown is white. 



Bill and legs black ; iris dark brown (Bingham). 



Length about 7 ; tail 2-7 ; wing 3*5 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape - 75. 



Distribution. The Pied Chat summers in digit and the moun- 

 tains of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, extending at this season to 

 Persia. In winter it visits the plains of the Punjab, Sind, G-uze- 

 rat, Eajputana as far east as Deesa and Sambhar, and the North- 

 west Provinces down to Allahabad. At this season it is also 

 found in the low country of Baluchistan and Afghanistan. 



Habits, Sfc. Breeds from March to July, constructing a nest of 

 grass, lined with feathers, in a hole of a wall or a cleft of a rock. 

 The eggs are greenish blue, with very pale marks of rusty brown 

 round the larger end, and measure about *81 by "56. 



