112 MENETBIES' WHEATEAE. 



round, and breeds on Hermon, only two hours walk lower down 

 than S. rostrata, Ehrenberg, the large-billed variety of the "Wheatear. 

 Mr. Sclater pointed out to me the identity of S. saltatrix, Menet., 

 with S. isahcllina, Riip.; and I fully agree with him, excejDting that 

 there seems to be a slight constant difference in size between the 

 two, the species which breeds in mountains being rather larger, and 

 that which is so numerous in the Judean desert in winter, which I 

 take to be the typical S. saltatrix, having a black line from the gape 

 to the eye wanting in all the northern specimens, and which I can 

 scarcely take to be a mere seasonal distinction. The nest and eggs 

 of S. isahcllina, which have not before been described, are exactly 

 like those of the Common Wheatear." 



Mr. E. C. Taylor, in "Egypt Revisited," remarks: — "This large, 

 stout species is resident throughout the winter, and abundant all 

 the way from Cairo to Assouan. It frequents the patches of short 

 burnt-up grass at the edge of the desert. The sexes are alike in 

 plumage. This species is figured by Dr. Bree." — "Ibis," 1867. 



Mr. W. E. Brooks, of Etawah, in India, writes to the "Ibis," 

 January, 1869: — "Dr. Bree, in describing S. saltatrix, does not des- 

 cribe the bird with sufficient minuteness to distinguish it from the 

 female or young of S. cBnanthe. My birds above mentioned have a 

 black band from the base of the bill to the eyes. Bound the fore- 

 head, and extending above this black band, and behind the eye, for 

 0.125 inches, is a white stripe. In other respects the bird is like 

 Dr. Bree's plate, but does not agree with his description when he 

 says the back is a mixture of 'buff with olivaceous green' My birds 



are brownish buff above, without any tinge of green In describing 



birds which closely resemble each other, excessive detail in measure- 

 ment is not wanted; for birds of the same species vary so much 

 from the length of the whole body to that of the shortest claw." 



There is much good sense in these remarks, though written in the 

 impulsive style adopted by the Indian naturalists of these days. In 

 the present case it is the general increase of size of all parts of the 

 body which constitute the chief difference between this bird and our 

 Common Wheatear. Dimensions, then, are here an important element 

 in the diagnosis, because general and constant. The female, however, 

 of S. isahcllina is an ashy brown bird, which Mr. Tristram ("Ibis," 

 loc. cit.,) tells us resembles that of S. lihanotica, which is like any- 

 thing but our Wheatear, as may be seen by consulting Dresser's 

 plate 207, where it is figured under the name of Saxicola erythrcea. 



Mr. Hume ("Ibis," 1870, p. 143,) confirms Mr. Brooks' opinion that 

 his specimens were those of S. isahcllina, aad in the same volume, p. 



