Ornithological Notes from Afghanistan. OM 
torrent in the then dried-up bed of a mountain-stream. A 
considerable number of huge stones had to be removed before 
the nest could be got at. Near Attock, in the Punjab, on 
the march up, I obtained S. morio (?), S. opistholeuca, Strick- 
land, S. deserti, Riipp.; and in the Khyber Pass I saw S. 
picata, evidently breeding, at the end of March. 
(497) RuvicILLa RUFIVENTRIS. 
(Enanthe rufiventris, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. xxi. p. 431. 
At 12,500 feet on the Safed Koh, on the Ist of July, I 
observed a pair of Redstarts hanging about an old tree-stump ; 
I shot the male, and on searching the stump found the nest 
in a crevice; but, unfortunately, it contained no eggs. The 
nest had the appearance of having been used; so that it is 
possible that the young had flown. 
The specimen shot is what I take to be a full-plumaged 
Ruticilla rufiventris. The crown of the head and the nape 
are of a dark ashy grey, the feathers on these parts pre- 
senting a strangely worn appearance, the shafts being quite 
denuded of web near the tips; the forehead, sides of head, 
throat, back, and upper part of breast being jet-black ; the 
rump, upper and lower tail-coverts, tail, and remainder of 
lower surface being rufous-chestnut. The wing measured 
3-2 inches. | 
This specimen does not differ from other Indian examples 
shot towards the end of the year, except in the intensity of the 
black and the slate-colour of the head being rather brighter. 
It corresponds with the plate of R. erythroprocta, Gould 
(B. of Asia, pt. vill.), excepting that the black on the lower 
surface does not descend beyond the upper part of the 
breast. 
Referring to the latter species, Mr. Hume remarks (Lahore 
to Yarkand, p. 209) that the amount of black varies in indi- 
viduals and is of no specific value. That the extent of black 
varies much is amply shown by the series of R. rufiventris 
before me ; but I do not possess a specimen in which the black 
descends so far as the abdomen, as is depicted in Mr. Gould’s 
drawing of &. eryihroprocta. 
