38 BIRDS OF TUKISIA 



where it builds a somewhat shallow uest composed of grass-bents and 

 rootlets, lined with a little hair or wool. In this it lays four or five 

 eggs of a rather glossy bluish-green, spotted with minute reddish- 

 brown spots, arranged in a zone round the larger end. Average 

 measurements 19 x 15 mm. 



Second broods are probably not uncommon, and I have in my 

 collection yonng birds of the species obtained in the month of July. 



SAXICOLA MELANOLEUCA (Giildenstadt). 

 EASTERN BLAGK-THROATED CHAT. 



» 



Muscicapa melanoleuca, Gfild. Nov. Com. Petr. xix, p. 468, pi. xv. 



(1775). 

 Saxicola melanoleuca, Sccbolmi, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v, p. 385 ; 



Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 93; Erlaiigcr, J. f. O. 1899, p. 223. 



Bescription. — Adult male, spring, from Source des Trois Palmiers, 

 Central Tunisia. 



Crown, nape, back, rump and upper tail-coverts silvery-white, with a 

 slight tinge of cream on the back ; a narrow frontal line, extending over 

 the base of the bill, lores, entire region round the eye, ear-coverts, and 

 upper and lower throat jet-black ; wings and scapulars also jet-black ; the 

 two central rectrices white at the base, otherwise black, the two exterior 

 rectrices white on the basal half, and black on the terminal half, the remain- 

 ing tail-feathers white, slightly tipped with black ; breast and rest of under- 

 parts white, tinged with cream coloiu-; under-surface of the primaries and 

 secondaries black. 



Iris very dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 5'80 inches, wing 3'55, culmen -60, tarsus 'BS. 



Adult female, from Nubia. 



Crown, nape, back and scapulars umber-brown ; a faint paler brown 

 stripe over the eye ; ear-coverts darker ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; 

 the two central rectrices white at the base, otherwise dull brown, the 

 remaining tail-feathers white, broadly tipped with dull brown ; wings dull 

 brown ; chin and throat greyish-buff ; breast buff ; rest of underparts pale 

 buff. 



Observations. — The chin and throat in some female specimens of this 

 Cbat in the British Museum collection are much darker and almost blackish. 

 This is perhaps due to age. 



As mentioned in my article on S. catcrina, the tail pattern in the present 

 species differs somewhat from that of .S'. occidentalis, the black band at the 



