96 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Oraithologij of Palestine. 



to grow over the ruddy colour, especially on the head, which 

 gives some of my skins a peculiar light iron-grey hue. The 

 female has the whole of the upper parts and the throat a russet- 

 brown, and the rest of the lower parts a reddish-white. This 

 Chat has habits intermediate between those of the Wheatear 

 and the Stonechat, often perching on bushes, and not dropping 

 behind a stone so invariably as the Rock-Chats. In every state 

 of plumage it can at once be discriminated from the Stapazine 

 by the greater extent of black on the throat, and a corresponding 

 extent of brown in the female. The eggs are exactly like those 

 of its congener — blue, with red spots over the whole surface ; and 

 the nest is on the ground, generally in a crevice under a rock, 

 sometimes at the root of a bush on the hill-sides. 



We obtained but one specimen of S. xanthomela, H. & 

 Ehrenb., at Shiloh in December. I was attracted to it by its 

 flight and manner, very different from that of S. libanotica, 

 which it closely resembles in the upper plumage ; but, unlike 

 any other member of the family, the black in front extends 

 over the whole breast and down the flanks. The white of the 

 head and back was tawny ; but as the same feature appears 

 in S. eurymelana before it assumes the full nuptial dress, 

 Ehrenberg's name is probably ill-chosen. It is, however, a 

 most distinct species ; and not the least curious fact in its 

 history is its being found in winter where all those closely 

 allied to it are summer visitants only. 



A very few days after the return of S. eurymelana, appeared 

 the eastern representative of ;S^, aurita, S. amphileuca, H. & 

 Ehrenb. It varies in plumage exactly like S. eurymelana, from 

 the tawny to the iron-grey. The females also are exactly like 

 the others, with the invariable exception that the throat, which 

 is white in the male, is in the female of the same rufous tint as 

 the rest of the under parts. Thus both male and female difi'er 

 in the colour of the throat from the allied S. eurymelana. This 

 seems suflScient to decide the species; for in habits, note, nest, 

 and eggs they are precisely alike. They inhabit, too, the same 

 districts, even the same fields; but I can discover no trace of 

 their interbreeding. The difference between the two species 

 appears to be analogous to that between the Whinchat and 



