STONECHAT. 341 



with. It is common on the Rhine and in parts of Southern 

 Germany, but in Central Germany, as in Anhalt and Silesia, 

 is rare. In Hungary its appearance seems to be accidental 

 only, but it occurs in Austria, and in Styria Seidensacher 

 states that a good many breed and some pass the winter. It 

 was not noticed by Dr. Finsch in the Balkan, but is not un- 

 common in Turkey. Major Irby observed it in the Crimea, 

 and it is said to be pretty common in Caucasia. Mr. Dresser 

 informs the Editor that as regards European Russia it is 

 found in the Government of Jaroslav, though scarce there, 

 and not found in that of Moscow, and is said to occur near 

 Tcherdyn in that of Perm, so that its range in the east is 

 more northerly than in the west. Pallas gives it as abun- 

 dant in Southern Russia in the Ural Mountains, and thence 

 throughout Siberia, but some of the eastern specimens have 

 the root of the tail white, and thus resemble the Saxicola 

 kemprichi of Ehrenberg, while again examples from Japan, 

 formerly considered to be S. rubicola, have since been referred, 

 as also those from China, to S. indica (Blyth), which is said 

 to present several differences in colour, to be smaller and to 

 have a different voice. Mr. Blyth now thinks that the true 

 S. rubicola may occur in India as well as the very similar 

 S. indica. De Filippi includes the former among the birds 

 of Western Persia ; it is very abundant in Palestine in winter, 

 and Strickland obtained it at the same season at Smyrna. 

 The Stonechat is also found in Africa. It comes to Egypt 

 in autumn and ascends the Nile as far as lat. 7 N., returning 

 again in April. It occurs in Algeria and in Morocco, but is 

 not known to breed there. MM. Webb and Berthelot met 

 with it in TenerirYe. Swainson includes it among the birds 

 of Senegal, and Prof, du Bocage has received it from one of 

 the Portuguese settlements on the west coast. Further to 

 the south, even at the Cape of Good Hope, a Stonechat of 

 large size and brilliant colour is found, and this bird, though 

 by some considered specifically identical with our own, was 

 long ago described as distinct by Linnaeus under the name of 

 Muscicapa torquata. Returning to Europe, the Stonechat is 

 found in all the southern and western countries of the con- 



