444 Mr. J. Scully on the 



^ 



78. Saxicola vittata, Hempr. & Ehr. 

 This rare species appears in Gilgit in very small numbers, 



and probably on migration only. I obtained two males, of 

 which one, shot on the 11th of May, is in full breeding- 

 plumage and measures — length 6 inches, wiug 3' 7, tail 2'5, 

 tarsus 087. This specimen only differs from the adult male 

 S. morio, in breeding-plumage, in having the chin, throat, and 

 breast pure white instead of black. The other male, men- 

 tioned in 'The Ibis,^ 1881, p. 59, is probably immature, as 

 the black feathers of the upper surface are narrowly edged 

 with brown. The female referred to this species by Major 

 Biddulph, on page 60, 1 find, on reexamination, to be really a 

 female of Saxicola picata and not of S. vittata. 



79. Saxicola isabellina, Riipp. 



This species is fairly common in Gilgit on migration, from 

 March to the third week in April, and again from the last 

 week in September to the first week in November. 



Mr. Blanford, in his ' Zoology of Persia,' p. 148, remarks 

 that the length of the black tip on the lateral tail-feathers of 

 S. isabellina is ^ to | inch. This does not at all accord with 

 my experience. In sixteen specimens of this species now be- 

 fore me the length of the black tip on the lateral tail-feathers 

 varies from 0*9 to 1"05 inch. Mr. Blanford, in the passage 

 above cited, seems to have confounded female Saxicola oenanthe 

 with S. isabellina. I should say that in the former species the 

 black tip to the outer rectrices does not exceed | of an inch, 

 while 5. isabellina always has more than | of an inch of 

 black at the end of the lateral tail-feathers. 



-4^80. Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.). 



This Wheatear passes Gilgit on migration, and is found 

 there in small numbers from the 20th of March to the 22nd 

 April. I did not secure any specimens of this species during 

 the autumn migration. Gilgit examples have the wings 3*7 

 to 3"9 inches, and the amount of black on the lateral tail- 

 feathers varies from 0'6 to 0*7 ; they do not seem to be sepa- 

 rable from European examples of S. cenanthe with which I 

 have compared them. 



