2& BIRDS OP TUNISIA 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Oglet-Zelles, South Tunisia. 



A fiontal stripe, extending over the ba-e of the hill, lores, a stripe over 

 the eye, ear-coveits, wings, and scapulars jet-hlack ; crown, nape, back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts silvery wliite, with a tinge of cream colour 

 on the back ; the two central tail-feathers white oq the basal third, other- 

 wise black ; the remaining rectrices white, tipped with black, broadly so 

 on the exterior pair, and slightly so on the rest; underpaits white, with 

 a strong tinge of cream colour on the breast : the under-surface of the 

 primaries and secondaries black. 



Iris very dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 6 inches, wing 3'50, culmen '60, tarsus -90. 



Adult female is indistinguishable, or nearly so, from that of the fol- 

 lowing species. 



The autumnal plumage of the male is a rich russet-brown, the wing- 

 feathers being conspicuously bordered with rufescent-buif. Besides the 

 seasonal variation there is also some variation in plumage entirely 

 dependent upon age. 



As recently pointed out by Count Salvadori {Ibis, ]904, pp. 75-78), 

 the Linna?an specific name of stapa.iUia undoubtedly applies to tbe 

 Black-eared and not to the Black-throated Chat. This is clearly 

 shown, not perhaps by Linnseus's own description of his Motacilla 

 stapazina, but by his reference to (Enanthe altera (" Aldrovandi, Orn." 

 ii., p. 763), where, besides a good description of the bird, we find an 

 unmistakable figure of the Black-eared Chat. 



From the very first considerable confusion appears to have reigned 

 regarding the names of these two closely-allied species, the Black-eared 

 and the Black-throated Chat. Edwards, as far back as 1743 ("Nat. 

 Hist." i, p. 31, pi. 31), figured under the name of the Eed or Kusset- 

 coloured Wheat-ear, the Black-throated Chat as the male, and the 

 Black-eared Chat as the female. Brisson, in 1760 ("Orn." iii, pp. 457- 

 459), refers to Edwards's plates, and falls into the same mistake. 

 Vieillot, in 1818 (" Nouv. Diet." xxi, pp. 424-425), first pointed out that 

 Edwards had figured two distinct species under one name, as different 

 sexes of the same bird, but overlooked the fact that Linnaeus, in his 

 description of M. stapazi)ia, referred to Edwards's figure representing 

 the Black-eared Chat, and retaining the name of S. stapazina for the 

 Black-throated Chat, redescribed the Black-eared Chat under the 

 name of CEnanthe albicollis. Tennninck, two years later, also 

 discovered Edwards's mistake, but, like Vieillot, overlooking Linnseus's 

 application of the name M. stapazina to the Black-eared Chat, gave 

 this bird the name of S. aurita. Mr. Dresser, in his articles on these 



