418 Mr. S. A. Buturlm on Birds 



brownish on the inner webs. In general coloration, and 

 especially in the fact that the rectrices lack all traces of 

 white (as in S. europaa and its subspecies) and rufous (as in 

 S. neumayeri Michah. and S. tephronota Sharpe) spots or bars, 

 Transcaucasian birds are very near to S. syriaca Temm. et 

 Ehr., from which they differ in having no traces of rufous 

 edges on the upper wing-coverts, in the grey and not rufous 

 under tail-coverts, and in the much smaller size (see the 

 table, p. 419) *. 



What S. rvpicola Blanf. really is I cannot say, as the 

 figure and description arc not sufficient to determine it. 

 The author writes " S. syriaca, Ehr., similis," but [op. cit. 

 pp. 223-224) he unites S. neumayeri and S. tephronota with 

 rufous-spotted, and S. syriaca with uniformly coloured tail. 

 Mr. Sarudny (" Birds of East Persia/' in Mem. Soc. Im. 

 Russ. Geogr. vol. xxxvi. 1003, p. 345, in Russ.) takes Sitta 

 rvpicola for a synonym of S. neumayeri, and Mr. Hellmayr 

 (' Tierreich/ 18 Lief. 1903, p. 175) for S. tephronota ; but this 

 last view cannot be admitted, as Blanford expressly states 

 that his bird has the black lore-stripe not well-developed, the 

 throat and breast white, and the under tail-coverts rufous, 

 and figures it accordingly. 



In any case my S. parva differs from S. rvpicola Blanf. 

 not only in the somewhat darker upper parts and better- 

 developed lore-stripe, but also in the grey under tail-coverts 

 and in the proportions — the much less slender bill and 

 legs. 



For ease of comparison I add a table of dimensions in 

 inches of typical S. syriaca, of a good series of the so-called 

 S. syriaca from Persia after Sarudny and Blanford, of 

 S. parva, and of S. rvpicola after Blanford. The tail- 

 dimensions I omit, as they vary according to the mode of 

 calculating them : — 



* Sitta canescenti-cinerea, parva (alaSj poll, nou attingit), brevirostris 

 (culmeu £ poll, non attingit) ; striga nigra transoculari longa ; auri- 

 eularibus, gula, jugulo albis, ventre pallido-rufescente, subcaudalibus 

 rinerascentibus, rectricibus immaculatis griseis ; tectricibus alarum 

 rufescente baud marginatis. Hub. Transcaucasia. 



