MOUSSIEB'S REDSTART. 83 



INSECtlVOR^. 



Family SYLVIIDvE. 



Genus Ruticilla. 



MOUSSIER'S REDSTART. 



Ruticilla 3Ioussieri. 



Ruticilla Moiissieri, Olph. Galliard ; Compt; Rend., 37, p. 8, 



" " Tristram; Ibis, i860, with plate. 



Erithacus Moiissieri, Olph. Galliard; Nat. Hist. Lyons, 4, p. 11. 



Pratincola Moussieri, Idem; Baldamus' Journ. f, Orn., 1853. 



Zinzukii, Of the Arabs. 



Specific Characters. — Male. Head and back black, with a broad line of 

 white passing above the eye, and terminating in a broader rounded patch 

 on the nape ; also a quadrangular patch of pure white covering the upper 

 part of the black brown primaries ; under parts rich dark rufous. Length 

 four inches and five eighths. Female : rather less than the male, having 

 the upper parts greyish brown ; under parts grey tinged with orange. Tail 

 as in the male, orange red, with the central feathers dark brown. 



I INTRODUCE this bcautiful and interesting bird into the European 

 list, upon the strength of the following communication by Colonel 

 Irby to the "Ibis" of January, 1873, p. 97:— 



^^ Ruticilla Moussieri, Olph. Gall. — I saw a male of this species 

 close to Tarifa, in October, by the side of the road. Unluckily I 

 ■was riding along -without a gun some way in advance of my baggage, 

 so could not secure it. Of course I do not consider that seeing a 

 bird is sufficient evidence to include it in a list, and should have 

 left it out; but as since at Tangier, on the 14th. March, 1872, I 

 obtained a fine adult male, killed close to the shore, evidently on 

 passage, [Saxicola oenanthe and S. aurita were then passing in some 



