NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 131 



iliacus of 1758, on the other hand, is not available, because 

 under that heading appears a mixture of descriptions of 

 the Song-Thrush, Redwing and Mistle-Thrush, while 

 in 1766 the name iliacus was transferred to the species 

 formerly named T. musicus. The Song-Thrush was 

 described by Brehm in 1831 as Turdus philomelos, and 

 therefore it must henceforth be called by that name. The 

 British form of the Song-Thrush, which is darker and 

 more olive-coloured, as acknowledged {in litt.) by many 

 of my friends and correspondents, such as Messrs. Eagle- 

 Clarke, Bonhote and Drs. N. F. and C. B. Ticehurst, was 

 described by me as Turdus philomelos clarkei (see Vog. 

 pal. Fauna, p. 651). 



On the Black-throated and Eared Wheatears. 



These two birds, generally known as Saxicola stapazina 

 and S. aurita, are one and the same species, but the male 

 appears in two forms, one with a black, the other with a 

 whitish throat, and the females, too, have sometimes 

 blackish, sometimes white throats. Pastor Kleinschmidt 

 was the first recent author who threw out a hint that 

 they might be one species, and the interesting observations 

 by Dr. Schiebel and Herr Reiser in south-eastern 

 Europe have shown that the two supposed species do 

 not differ in any way in their habits or in their nests 

 and eggs, and have left hardly any doubt that they are 

 one and the same bird, especially as black-throated males 

 do not always pair with dark-throated females and 

 vice versa. 



An unbiassed and careful study of a large series of 

 skins, and last, but not least, my own personal observa- 

 tions in company with the Hon. W. Rothschild in Algeria, 

 have confirmed Pastor Kleinschmidt's suspicion, and the 

 observations of Messrs. Schiebel and Reiser. 



This dimorphic plumage is found alike in the western 

 form, S. hispanica hispanica, and in the eastern sub- 

 species, S. hispanica xanthomelaena. Neither the name 

 8. stapazina, nor that of 8. aurita need henceforth be used 



