157 [Vol. xliii. 



breadth of the feather. Remaining rectrices fulvous, except 

 that the centre pair are sandy isabelline as in the upper tail- 

 coverts. 



Nostrils entirely covered with minute feathers, from which 

 spring 9 major and several minor bristles which curve down 

 towards the gape. Whitish eye-ring of minute feathers. 



Shape of bill as in Pyrrhulauda. 



Type. In the British Museum. Adult female, Sheikh 

 Othman, Aden Protectorate, 15. i. 1922. Wing 86, culmen 

 from its junction with skull 13, tail 45 mm. 



Ammomanes deserti cheesmani, subsp. no v. ...x 



Darker on the back and head, and darker, more rufous 

 underneath than Ammomanes deserti fraterculus from 

 Palestine. Smaller bill than is ever found in A. d. frater- 

 culus. A female in Mr. P. A. Buxton's collection from Kasr- 

 i-Shirin on 24. xi. 1918 in West Persia is identical (wing 96, 

 culmen 13 mm.). Two specimens collected by Capt. Pitman 

 on the Shat-al-Adhaim (left bank of Tigris) show similar 

 characteristics, but are slightly pinker owing to fresher 

 plumage. Neither of these birds is sexed, both obtained in 

 October : wings 103-105, culmen 14 mm. 



Large series of A. d. fraterculus, parvirostris, and iranica 

 examined. 



I obtained specimens at Naft Khaneh (wing 96, culmen 

 12'5 mm.), just where the south-eastern end of the Jebel 

 Hamrin touches the Iraq-Persian frontier, so, as far as we 

 know, this race is confined to the country round Kasr-i-Shirin 

 and the eastern parts of the Jebel Hamrin. Birds from 

 Tekrit seem to be tj^pical A. d. fraterculus, whilst a bird from 

 Samarra, just north of Baghdad, seems to be intermediate 

 between A. d. fraterculus and A. d. cheesmani. 



This race is distinct from A. d. parvirostris or iranica, 

 neither of which has the red underparts which characterise 

 A. d. cheesmani. 



Type. In the British Museum. No sex, Shatt-al-Adhaim, 

 on the left bank of the Tigris, Mesopotamia, 16. x. 1917. 

 Collected by Capt. C. R. Pitman. 



