137 [Vol. xl. 
Iistribution—S. rv. rupicola occurs in Central and E. 
Transcaucasia, Hlburz Mts., in N. Persia, and in Asia Minor 
from Aidin to the Taurus. 
(2) Sitta rupicola tschitscherini Zar. 
Sitta tschitscherint Zarudny, Orn. Jahrb. 1904, p. 218: 
Ispahan, Central Persia. 
Sitta neumayeri tschitscherini Zarudny, Journ. f. Orn. lix. 
py 29 (1911). 
Rupisitta tschitscherini Buturlin, Trav. Soc. Imp. Natural- 
istes de Petrograd, xliv. p. 158 (1916). 
“ Sitta neumayer tschitscherim” Hartert, Vog. pal. Fauna, 
p. 339, and “ Sttta neumayeri tschitscherin ” Witherby, Ibis, 
1907, p. 91, refer not to this species at all but to the large 
S. n. dressert. 
This race was distinguished by Zarndny on account of its 
“bleiche Firbung der Ober- und Unterseite, nebst der sehr 
swachem Entwicklung der schwarzen Firbung hinten den 
Augen, sowie durch der schlanker Schnabel.” It was also 
referred to in Blanford’s remark that the “ specimens of 
S. rupicola from Kohrud and Shiraz are much paler in 
colour than those from the Elburz Mountains.” One may 
add that the eye-stripe is extremely short aud narrow 
according to Buturlin, who lays great emphasis on the 
slenderness of the bill,and gives the following measurements 
of six specimens :—Wing 74-76, exposed culmen 19-20, 
depth of bill 4:°1-4°3 mm. 
There appear to be no specimens of this race in the 
British Museum or at Tring, with the exception of two very 
small immatures obtained by Witherby at Ardakun in Fars 
in May 1902. Their parents were not obtained, so we 
cannot regard the identification as absolutely certain. The 
distribution is roughly that of S. n. dresseri, Ispahan (terra 
typica), Kohrud, and the province of Fars. I presume that 
both races of the small S. rupicola are rare ; at any rate, 
specimens of them are rare in this country, though we have 
long series of several races of the large S. newmayer. 
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