SAXICOLA CATERING 31 



able to the Eastern form, in which the eye is completely and very 

 markedly encircled by the black band ; whereas in the Western form 

 it is not generally so, being either without any black at all above 

 the eye or with merely a very narrow line. Lastly, the words " les 

 couvertures du dessus et du dessous des ailes sont de cette couleur 

 (noire) ainsi que les pennes " would indicate that Vieillot meant that 

 the quills as well as the wing-coverts were black, both above and 

 below. 



" I do not know where Vieillot's type-specimen may be, if, indeed, 

 there be one in existence ; but I may say that the form of Black-eared 

 Chat most often met with in Europe appears to be the Eastern and 

 not the Western, the range of the latter being, more or less confined 

 to a comparatively small portion of the Continent. 



" I would here observe that the term Eastern, as applied to the 

 Black-eared Chat with a dark under-wing, is somewhat misleadinsr, 

 the range of this form extendmg right across the European Con- 

 tinent as far west as France and Portugal. Mr. Dresser is evidently 

 unaware of this fact, as, in a letter, he informs me that he has never 

 heard of its occurrence further west than Montenegro and Albania. 



"With regard to Temminck's Saxicola anrita ("Man d'Orn." i, 

 1820, p. 241), his description, although, on the whole, more applic- 

 able to the Eastern form of Black-eared Chat than to the Western, is 

 so vague that it might apply equally to either. Owing, however, to the 

 kindness of Dr. Otto Finsch, of the Bikjs Museum at Leiden, where 

 Temminck's collection is preserved, I have been able to ascertain 

 that Temminck's specimens of Black-eared Chats are from South 

 France, Italy, Portugal, Egypt, Bogosland, and Arabia, and that they 

 ail agree in having the under-surface of the wing Mack. Dr. Finsch 

 was unable to inform me which particular specimen had served 

 Temminck as his type ; but presumably his description was taken 

 from one of these examples, and seeing that all the specimens have 

 the under-surface of the wing black, we are justified in concluding 

 that Temminck's description of S. aurita applies to the Eastern and 

 not to the Western Black-eared Cijat, which has the under-surface of 

 the wing of a light colour. 



"This is, indeed, all the more probable when we consider that the 

 Eastern Black-eared Chat is the form found throughout the greater 

 part of Southern Europe, as well as in Asia Minor and Noith-east 

 Africa ; while the Western form, so far as I have been able to ascer- 



