SAXIOOLA HALOPHTLA 49 



coverts pure white; quills brownish-black, with a slight white fringe on the 

 tips of the secondaries ; the two central rectrices white on the basal half 

 and black on the terminal half; the remaining rectrices white, broadly- 

 tipped with black ; lores, ear-coverts, throat and sides of the neck jet- 

 black ; breast and abdomen pure white ; under tail-coverts white, tinged 

 with rufescent ; axillaries and under wiag-coverts black. 



Iris very dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



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



Adult female, spring, from Douirat, South Tunisia. 



Forehead, crown, nape and back silvery sandy-grey, whiter over the 

 eye-region and on the nape, and greyer on the top of crown and back ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts pure white ; wings and scapulars sandy-brown, 

 the secondaries and upper wing-coverts fringed with white ; the two central 

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

 ing rectrices white, broadly tipped with dark brown ; lores greyish ; car- 

 coverts sandy-grey ; entire underparts whitish, with a slight tinge of grey 

 on the throat ; under tail-coverts white, faintly tinged with rufescent ; 

 axillaries and under wing-coverts white and grey. 



Iris very dark brown ; bill and feet dark brown. 



Total length 5-75 inches, wing 3-40, culmen -60, tarsus -90. 



Yery old female, spring, from Tafcahouine, South Tunisia. 



Similar to the female just described as regards the upper parts, but 

 differing in having the following parts blackish, viz., the lores, ear-coverts, 

 throat, sides of neck, axillaries and under wing-coverts. 



Observations. — As will be seen by the foregoing description given of two 

 females of this species, there is considerable variation in the plumage of 

 this sex, which is no doubt due to age ; the older the bird grows, the darker 

 its throat and some other parts become, approximating in these respects 

 more nearly to the plumage of the male bird. The upper plumage, how- 

 ever, of the female does not seem to grow dark like that of the male, or to 

 materially alter with age. Between the spring and winter dress, either of 

 the males or of the females, there does not appear to be much, if any, 

 variation. 



The accompanying plate shows the difference in plumage between the 

 old and young females. 



This Chat appears to be distinct from S. lugens, Licht., from 

 Egypt and Palestine, the females of the two species differing entirely 

 from each other in their plumage-colouring, that of S. lugens bearing 

 the same plumage as the male of that species, whereas in the present 

 species the two sexes differ from each other altogether, particularly in 

 the colouring of the upper parts. The males of the two species 

 appear to be indistinguishable from each other in plumage, except 

 for the colouring of the crissum and under tail-coverts, which in 

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