Contributiom to the Ornitliology of India, ^o. 187 



< 491.— Saxicola isabellina, Riippell. 8. saltatris, 



Menetries. /bl squalida, Eversm. S. wnanthe, L. 

 apud, Jerclon. 



This speciesj thoxig-h common enoug"!! throng-hout Sindli, was 

 not by any means so numerous there as it is everywhere in the 



f North- Western Provinces, the Punjab, and Rajpootana. 

 -491 his, — Saxicola Kingi, Hume. Ibis, Jamj. 

 1871, p. 29. The Bed-tailed Wheatear. 



I reproduce my original description, &c., of this species taken 

 from the Ibis, with slight additions. 



Dimensions — Leng-th, 6-3 to 6*5; expanse, 10 to 11-3.; tail 

 from vent, 2"2 to 2*4 ; wings when closed reach to within 0*7 

 to 1*5 of end of tail. Wing, 3"7 to 4*4 ; the third primary is 

 the longest, the second, 0"35, and the first, 2*0 shorter than the 

 third. The tail is perfectly square. Bill, leng-th at front 0.55 to 

 0-6 ; tarsus, 1 to I'l ; foot, greatest length, 1-15 to I'S; greatest 

 width, 1 to 1"1 ; mid toe to root of claw, 0'55 to 0*64 ; its claw 

 (straight), 0-2 to 0-24. 



Description. — Legs and feet, black ; bill, black ; irides, dark 

 brown. 



Plumage. — A dark grey line from the gape to and under the 

 eye ; a broad slightly greyish white line from the nostrils over 

 the eyCj, much more conspicuous in some specimens than in 

 others ; ear coverts, silky rufescent brown ; forehead, greyish 

 brown ; crown, occiput, nape, back, and scapulars, nearly uni- 

 form grey-earthy brown, as a rule only very slightly tino-ed 

 with rufescent towards the runip ; but in some specimens, more 

 strongly so ; rump and upper tail coverts, bi-ight rufous fawn ; in 

 some specimens pale rufous buff ; tail feathers, bright, in some 

 pale, ferruginous ; with a sub-terminal blackish brown band 

 extending over both webs, and a narrow tipping of rufous 

 white, which jets in at the shafts for about the tenth of an 

 inch ; occasionally on the lateral feathers, the black bar is more 

 or less imperfect. The dark band is from 1*1 to 1*4 broad 

 on the central tail feathers, about 0*6 to 0-8 on the feathers 

 next the centre, and 0*4 to 0-6 on the external ones. The 

 tertiaries and most of the coverts are hair brown, broadly 

 margined with pale rufescent ; the winglet, primaries and, 

 secondaries, and primary greater coverts, are slightly darker 

 hair brown, very narrowly tipped with white, and some of 

 them, the secondaries especially, very narrowly margined with 

 pale rufescent. The chin and xipper throat white, with a faint 

 creamy tinge. The sides of the neck behind and below the ear 



M 



