CLASSIFIED NOTES 4s:J 



upper tail-coverts, which are white; tail marked as in the male, but the black portions blackish 

 brown ; chin and throat pale butt' lighter on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, [w. i>. p. and T. w.] 

 2. Distribution. Formerly the blackthroated and blackeared birds were regarded as 

 distinct species, but it is now generally admitted that they are dimorphisms of one species 

 which is found breeding in the western part of the Mediterranean region (North-west Africa, 

 including Marocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli, the Iberian Peninsula, South France, North 

 Italy, and S. Tyrol, Istria, etc.). In winter it migrates southward to Africa, crosses the Sahara, 

 and has been recorded as far south as Senegambia. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean 

 region it is replaced by the next form. About ten occurrences are on record from Great Britain, 

 two only of which are from Scotland, and it has been obtained on Heligoland. [K. c. R. J.] 



EASTERN RUSSET-WHEATEAR [Oe-ndnthe 1 hispdnica xanthcrmelcena (Hemprich and 

 Ehrenberg) ; Saxicola stapazina (Linnseus) nee Vieillot. Eastern blackthroated or black- 

 eared- wheatear]. 



1. Description. Resembles the desert-wheatear, but is at once distinguished from that 

 species by the black under surface of the wings. The sexes differ in coloration. Length 5J in. 

 [140 mm.]. General colour above dusky isabelline; throat, sides of the head and neck, wings, 

 and scapulars deep black; chest, breast, belly, and under tail-coverts white, suffused with 

 brownish buff; middle tail feathers black, white on the basal third; remainder of tail white, 

 tipped with black. During the spring and summer, by abrasion and bleaching, the isabelline 

 tints are more or less completely replaced by white. In the female the general colour of the 

 upper parts is of a uniform brown, darkest on the wings and tail ; feathers of the throat buff, 

 mottled with black ; breast buff, gradually merging into the white of the under parts ; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts dark brown, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. The breeding range of the eastern form extends to the north of the 

 Adriatic (Croatia, Dalmatia, and Montenegro), possibly also in Southern Italy and Sicily, and 

 certainly also in the Balkan Peninsula, South Russia (Crimea), Asia Minor, and Palestine. In 

 the winter it migrates through Italy and North Africa (from Algeria to Egypt) to the Eastern 

 Sudan and Abyssinia. This form has occurred once in England (Sussex, Sept. 1905). [r. c. R. J.] 



ISABELLINE-WHEATEAR [Oendnthe l isabellina Cretzschmar ; Saxicola isabelllna Rtippell]. 



1. Description. Recognised by the absence of black in its plumage excepting on the 

 terminal half of the tail and on the lores. The sexes are practically alike in coloration, but the 

 female is slightly smaller. General colour of the upper surface of the body sandy brown ; 

 primaries darker ; rump and upper tail-coverts white ; tail feathers white at the base, the middle 

 pair dark brown on the terminal two-thirds ; remaining pairs black on the terminal half; feathers 

 in front of the eye black, a white stripe from the bill to the eye; ear-coverts darkish buff; chin 

 white; remainder of the under parts creamy buff; axillaries and under wing coverts white, 

 [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. In Europe this species is only known to breed in the steppes of South- 

 east Russia and the valleys of the Caucasus, but in Asia it nests in Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, 

 Transcaspia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the North- West Provinces of India, Tibet, 

 Mongolia, North-west China, and East Siberia. Its winter quarters lie in North-east and East 

 Africa, south to British East Africa, South Arabia, and Western India, but it has occasionally 

 been recorded from Algeria and Tunisia, and four times from England (three Sussex, one 

 Cumberland). [F. c. R. J.] 



1 Since Volume I. of the Britiih Bird Book was published it has been shown that the generic name Saxieola belongs 

 rightly to the Chats (hitherto generally known as Pratiruola}, and the correct name of the Wheateart is therefore 

 Oenanthe. 



