94 BLACK WHEATEAE. 



never again saw them, thougli I explored a great portion of the 

 mountains between Algesiras and Casa Vieja. On the rock at Gibraltar 

 this bird is rather common." 



Radde, in his ''lieisen im Suden von Ost Siberien," remarks of this 

 bird: — "It is very observable, that among the few species of this bird 

 in Eastern Siberia, just those make their appearance which have a 

 limited area in the south of Europe and in the North of Africa. 

 Had we in S. saltatrix an additional member of the fauna of Eastern 

 Siberia, which united it with that of the south of Europe, the species 

 now to be considered might offer an interesting examj^le of the ap- 

 pearance of a Chat in the central parts of Southern Siberia, which 

 belongs exclusively to the coasts of Southern Europe and to those of 

 Egypt and Arabia. For the existence of this species in the remaining 

 parts of Siberia, we have until now, however, no authentic proof, and 

 on this account it is very surprising to find them in the otherwise 

 limited and barren wilderness of the Baikal mountain range. Saxicola 

 leucura was found breeding here and there, mostly in company with 

 the typical S. rubicola, in the clefts of granite rocks, which constitute 

 the greater part of the shores of Lake Baikal. 



''As in the old White-tailed Chats, so also the young of these, 

 the tail, together with the upper and lower tail coverts, are snow 

 white; a similar colouring also prevails at the root of the tail. Both 

 the middle tail feathers take the white colour one third of the whole 

 length, two thirds are black; in all the others only one fifth of every 

 feather, from the point, is black, four fifths white. On the outer edge 

 of the first and second tail feathers the black extends rather higher 

 along towards the shaft. With the outermost border of the black 

 colour, the white of the shaft also changes into black. In the plumage 

 of the young, every tail feather has a moderately broad (three quarters 

 of a line) reddish white edge to the tip, and a tender narrow hem of 

 the same colour on the sides. Here and there are to be seen, on the 

 end of the upper tail coverts, quite narrow blackish bands, which, in 

 consequence of their slight extent, are scarcely made known. The 

 whole of the head, the upper and under parts of the body, are a 

 dull dark brownish grey, which colour becomes lighter on the belly, 

 and turns into a dull yellowish white, with some blackish sjDots. The 

 separate feathers of the head, neck, and back, and on the breast, have 

 a somewhat lighter central space, but again darker blackish borders, 

 so that here throughout a gloomy hue of faint greyish black prevails. 

 The black wing feathers and their upper coverts are broadly edged 

 with rusty red (as with the Common in the youthful plumage.) The 

 under wing coverts are of an intense black, but they have now and 



