THE BIRDS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 399 
106. Desert Wheatear. A=nanthe deserti. 
Ainanthe deserti albifrons, Bravdt. (Bull. Acad. St. Petersb., 2, 1844, 
p- 139—W. Siberia). 
The Desert Wheatear asa winter visitor is widely distributed in small numbers, 
but is nowhere very common except when it first arrives, and then in favoured 
places a fair number may be seen, as on the Adhaim, where Pitman found it 
not very uncommon at the end of September and first part of October; either 
they spread out afterwards to other places or some pass right through the country, 
as in winter scattered examples are the rule. It first arrives early in September 
and the last record we have is the first week of March. It is partial to the vici- 
nity of scrub and cover, as well as to nullahs and desert, and frequently settles 
on small bushes. 
Zarudny says it nests in small numbers in Mesopotamia ; he does not specify 
where but presumably in the hills near Ahwaz, perhaps beyond our area. He 
lists the race montana as a rare winter visitor. 
Twelve skins examined: @, Baghdad, 17-9-17 (P. A. B.); Legait 2-3-18; @, 
Beled, 22-2-17 (P. Z.C. and R. E. C.); @, Ahwaz, 10-1-19 (Armstrong); # 9, 
Adhaim, 14-11-17, 3, 29-9-17, 23-9-17, 17-10-17, 14-10-17, 20-10-17; ¢, Kut, 
20-2-17 (C. R. P.). 
These are typical albifrons with wings of males 91-95 mm. ; none shew the 
large amount of white in the wing which montana has. 
107. Black-eared Wheatear. AE=nanthe hispanica. 
Ainanthe hispanica melanoleuca, Giild, (Nov. Com. Petrop., 19, p. 468, 
1775—Georgia). 
This is a spring and autumn passage migrant through Mesopotamia from the 
middle of September to mid-October, and again at the end of March and in 
April. It appears to be widely distributed but nct very common. Weigold 
found it common at Urfa from April 11th to 23rd frequenting stony ridges and 
the males were singing. Zarudny records this bird, under the name amphileuca, 
as a passage migrant and also his race gaddi ; this latter I have seen no speci- 
mens of, and his description of it sounds to me like that of an individual 
variation, especially as he records in other districts of Persia hybrids between 
gaddi and amphileuca and between gaddi and melanoleuca ! 
He says both the black-eared and black-throated forms breed commonly 
in the Zagros, the latter is there a migrant, the former being found but rarely 
in winter. Melanoleuca certainly breeds no further off than Kasr-i-Sherin 
and Pa-i-taq (Buxton). 
Six specimens examined: dg, Amara, 16-10-18 (black-throat) ; Baghdad, 
10-10-17; (white-throat); ¢ , 15-9-17 (P. A. B.), 9, Feluja, 23-3-17 (black-throat), 
23-3-17 (white-throat); 9, Shat-al-Adhaim, 29-9-17 (black-throat) (C. R. P.). 
I have followed the latest fashion in uniting black-throated and black-eared 
(=white-throated) specimens of this Wheatear, as the concensus of opinion 
seems to be that they are dimorphisms of one species and I have no proof to 
offer one way or another. Until some one makes a special study of these birds 
in their breeding quarters to ascertain whether the two forms interbreed, either 
by obtaining black-throated females paired with white-throated males, or by 
rearing nests of young ones, this much debated point will never be satisfac- 
torily settled. It could easily be done by any one who has the opportunity. 
There is this to be said for uniting them that it must be very rare to find two 
otherwise similar species always more or less migrating together and breeding 
in the same areas ; on the other hand if they freely interbieed one would expect 
hybrids between the two to be commoner than they are ; their habits, etc., seem 
to be similar. 
