1922.] tlie Near East and Tropical East Africa. 21 



Pratincola alhosuperciliaris Hume, Stray Feathers, i. 

 1873, p. 307. (Also see Hartert, J. £. 0. 1910, p. 174.) 



Male. Similar in every respect to maura, except that the 

 base of the tail never has more than 11 mm. of white, and 

 the outer tail-feather seldom has any white at all or only a 

 slight patch of one or two millimetres. Upper tail-coverts 

 white with a few yellowish fringes (never spotted with 

 brown as in rubicola and hihernajis). Axillaries black with 

 small white fringes. The whole under surface is suffused 

 with chestnut, paler on the abdomen and to a variable degree 

 of intensity on the breast. 



Female. As in maura, except for the much larger amount 

 of white at the basal portion of the latter's tail. Throat 

 from almost whitish to })ale fulvous. Remainder of under 

 parts dull chestnut. 



Wing of males 67-71, culmen 13-14 mm. 



Breeds in western Siberia, on the Petchora,in the southern 

 Urals and Tian Shan, scarce round Orenberg, on the Khirgiz 

 Steppes and in Trans-Caspia and western Turkestan. Breeds 

 commonl}' in the Himalayas from Gilgit and Cashuiir to 

 Sikkim, also in the Kurram Valley and at Quetta. Has also 

 been recorded as breeding in the Elburz Mountains of 

 northern Persia. 



Winters in Afghanistan and India. Has straggled to the 

 Andamans. Obtained in Norfolk in September 1904, and in 

 Fife in October 1913. 



Saxicola torquata stejnegeri. 



Pratincola rubicola stejnegeri Parrot, Verb. Orn. Ges. 

 Bayern, viii. 1908, p. 124 : Iterup and Yesso in northern 

 Japan. 



Male. Upper parts darker than either maura or indica, 

 this being especially noticeable in the female. Tail as in 

 indica, with little or no white at the base of the outer 

 reetrices. Upper tail-coverts white with broader yellowish 

 edgings than in either maura or indica. Axillaries as in 

 maura and indica. Under parts very similar to indica, but 

 if anything slightly darker. 



