A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF GILGIT. 113 
subject, I do not now believe that the white head “ is assumed 
in the spring of the first year only ;”’ in a large series exa- 
mined (including the type) there is no satisfactory evidence 
that the white cap is dependent upon age. Sasicola picata 
is said to have a wider range than S. capistrata, and this 
question merits further investigation; but I find that about 
half of the specimens usually called S. picata show, on close 
examination, some slight traces of white about the sides of 
the head. 
Messrs. Blanford and Dresser, in their Monograph of the 
genus, confused Saaicola capistrata with Sazicola morio, and 
described a male of the former from Lahore as S. morio. S. 
capistraia, male, differs from S$. morio, male, in breeding- 
plumage, in having the bill and feet much larger and coarser, 
the white on the head not extending to the interscapulary 
region, a different pattern of black on the tail-feathers, and the 
wing-formula never the same ; in Sazxtcola capistrata (=picata) 
the second primary is intermediate in length between the sixth 
and seventh; in S. morio the second primary is intermediate 
between the fifth and sixth. In the flesh the two birds 
could not be mistaken, S. capistrata being much more bulky 
than S. morio. 
76.—Saxicola albonigra, Hume. (489 bis.) 
This fine species is, according to my experience, only a 
winter visitor to the Gilgit district, and is common there, at 
an elevation of about 5,000 feet, from the beginning of 
November to the end of February. I never saw it in summer, 
and the specimen procured by Major Biddulph in June may 
have been only a straggler. The sexes are precisely similar 
in plumage, but the female is smaller than the male. Twelve 
males measured :—Length, 7 to 7:4 inches ; wing, 4°1 to 4°35 ; 
tail, 2:9 to 3:1; tarsus, 1 to 1:1; bill from gape, 0°95 to 0:96. 
Five females measured :—Length, 6°7 to 6°85 ; wing, 3:9 to 4:02; 
tail, 2°5 to 2°8; tarsus, 0°9 to 1; bill from gape, 0°85 to 0-95. 
The black band on the lateral tail-feathers varies in depth 
from 0°5 to 0°85; the second primary equals the sixth in 
lene th. 
Sazxicola albonigra is distinguishable from Sazicola picata 
by having the sexes coloured alike, by being much larger, and 
by having a differently shaped wing. 
From the male of S. picata, with which alone it could be 
confounded, its large size, different wing-formula, brighter 
colours, and less extended black on breast and back at once 
separate it. 
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