BLACK WHEATEAB. 91 



takeably, and, like the last, are common throughout upper India and 

 Scinde in cold weather/' 



Mr. O. Salvin, (" Five Months' Birds'-nesting in the Eastern Atlas," 

 *'Ibis," 1859,) writes: — '^More abundant about the Djendeli district 

 than elsewhere. It appears to be an earlier breeder than other 

 Saxicolce, as young were found at the end of May in an advanced 

 stage." Mr. A. B. Brooke says ("Ibis," 1873) that this bird is a rare 

 visitor to Sardinia. 



Mr. W. E. Brooke, in a letter dated Etawah, January, 1869, and 

 published in the "Ibis" for that year, says that my specific characters 

 of this bird are exactly the same as those of S. leucuroides of India, 

 and therefore suggests that this latter name should be suppressed. 

 Upon such very good authority as that of Mr. Brooke and Mr. 

 Stewart, I have added the name to the synonymes of S. leucura. 



Of its occurrence in Italy, Salvadori ("Fauna Italica,") writes: — 

 "This species is rather rare in Italy, and it is circumscribed and 

 stationary in particular localities. Thus it is found in Liguria, upon 

 the shores of the Levant, near Nice, near Palermo, in the southern 

 parts of Sicily, and in Sardinia, especially near Cagliari. According 

 to Temminck, it occurs also in Corsica, and it is said to occur acci- 

 dentally in Venetia. It frequents rocky and dry places, flying from 

 one rock to another. It nests here, between the stones of old ruins 

 especially. The nest is made with twigs and roots. Eggs, from five 

 to six, are of a blue colour, without spots, or with very small rosy 

 spots near the larger end." 



The Rev. H. B. Tristram's account of this bird, as observed by 

 him in Northern Africa, is so interesting that I shall transcribe his 

 notice of it from the "Ibis," vol. i., p. 296. 



"The Chats are the tribe of all others the most universally dis- 

 tributed in the Desert, yet having specifically very narrow limits. 

 They are, too, the only class of birds there, which have any dis- 

 tinctive or conspicuous colouring. The Larks, of various species, or 

 the Sand Grouse may be on all sides, yet only a practised eye can 

 detect a sign of life in the waste. But the lively Chat is seen afar; 

 his clear bright colouring gleams in contrast with the universal brown 

 around him. Conscious of his attractions he attempts no concealment, 

 but relies for safety on his watchful eye and rapid movements, and, 

 above all, on the snug retreat which he always has open before 

 him — his hole in the rocks, or his burrow in the sand. 



I think that those who are familiar with the habits of this class, 

 will at once admit the propriety of Cabanis's separation of the genus 

 Dromol(Ba from the old one of Saxicola. Strong^ as are the structural 



