206 SAXICOLINA. 
indication ofa darker line at the angle of the gape; ear-coverts 
and the rest of the lower parts similar, but tinged with a faint 
brownish shade usually; wing-liming and axillaries with a 
very faint yellowish-salmon tint; inner margins of inner webs 
of quills, on the lower surface, with a decided buffy-tinge. 
This is a very uncommon species, and only occurs as an 
exceptionally rare winter visitant to Sind and Northern 
Guzerat. 
Genus, Cercomela, Bon. 
Bill moderate, slender, straight, tolerably curving at the tip 
and barely notched; rictal bristles small but distinct ; wings as 
in Saxicola ; second quill a trifle longer ; tail somewhat lengthened ; 
feet stout; middle-toe not elongated ; hind-toe rather long. 
Cercomela melanura, Rupp. 
493.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 133. 
THE BLACK-TAILED RocKCHAT. 
Length, 6; wing, 3°12; tail, 2°35; tarsus, 0°88. 
Bill blackish ; legs black. 
Of an uniform ashy-brown tint above, paler on the throat and 
breast, and passing to whitish below ; under tail-coverts white ; 
the tail and upper coverts black. 
It is extremely uncertain whether this bird occurs in India or 
not, but Jerdon says, that “ among the drawings of Sir A. Burnes 
is one of a saxicoline bird, procured in Sind, which Mr. Blyth 
identifies with Ruppell’s bird, which is a native of N. E. Africa 
and Arabia.” 
As no other observer has since procured it from thence, it must 
have been an isolated straggler, that had wandered far from its 
usual haunts. 
Cercomela fusca, Blyth. 
494.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 134; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 477; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central 
India ; Ibis, p. 125. 
THE Brown RockcHat. 
Length, 6:5; expanse, 10°5; wing,3°5; tail, 2°75; tarsus, 1; 
bill at gape, 0°8 ; bill at front, 0°5. 
Bill black ; irides deep-brown ; legs black. 
Above light fuscous-brown or rufous-olive, tinged with fawn 
color on the back; tail dark sepia-brown, oboletely banded, 
as seen in a strong light; beneath rufescent-fawn or dull fer- 
ruginous. 
The Brown Rockchat is very common at Mount Aboo, but 
does not occur in the plains below; it is also very common 
at Neemuch, and in the surrounding districts. 
It is a permanent resident breeding from March to July or 
even later, rearing at least two broods in the season. The nest 
