SAXICOLA LETJCOPYGA 53 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tamerza, South Tunisia. 



Crown, nape, rump, upper and under tail-coverts and crissum pure 

 white ; the tail also pure white, with the exception of the terminal halt of 

 the two central rectrices, which is black ; the remainder of plumage, above 

 and below, jet black, the wings less intense in colour. 



Iris dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 6-25 inches, wing 4, culmen -70, tarsus 1. 



Immature female, winter, from Kebih, South Tunisia. Nearly the 

 entire plumage, above and below, black ; the wings with a brown tinge, 

 rump, upper and under tail-coverts and crissum pure white; the central 

 pair of rectrices dark brown on the terminal half, and white on the basal 

 half, the remaining tail-feathers white, with dark brown spots near their 

 tips. 



Soft parts as in the male. 



Total length 6 inches, wing 3-75, culmen -65, tarsus 1. 



Kegarding the present species, considerable confusion existed at 

 one time, owing to the difference in plumage between the adult and 

 young birds, the two being looked upon as distinct species, and 

 separated accordingly ; the former under the name of Saxicola 

 leucocephala (A. E. Brehm), and the latter under that of Saxicola 

 leucopijga (C. L. Brehm). What greatly contributed towards this con- 

 fusion, and indeed may be held mainly responsible for it, was the fact 

 of birds of this species breeding in immature plumage, the additional 

 fact of pairs being found, as a rule, with the two sexes in the same 

 plumage, tending still further to confirm naturalists in their error. 

 Mating in the case of the present species no doubt takes place, as a 

 rule, between individuals of the same age, and consequently in the 

 same stage of plumage, but that this is not invariably the case has 

 been proved by pairs having occasionally been found with the sexes 

 in different dress, one with a white and the other with a black head. 

 Dr. Koenig seems to have met with such pairs in Egypt, and Mr. 

 E. Cavendish Taylor also once shot two of these birds, which were 

 very probably mated, together near Cairo, one with a white, and the 

 other with a black head. 



Captain Shelley {Ihls, 1871, p. 53) also mentions having found 

 young birds of this species, with black heads, in company with their 

 undoubted parents, with white heads. 



There would appear, therefore, to be no longer any reason to 

 question the identity of S. leucopijga wiih S. leucocephala , and the 

 former being the older name, must stand, the latter becoming merely 

 a synonym. 



